VAN LANGREN, MICHELFLORENT

(?-1675)

Michel-Florent Van Langren arrived in Brussels in 1611. As mathematician to the king as well as an astronomer, cartographer, and engineer, he undertook studies of Brussels and surrounding areas with a view to ensuring defenses against attack. He proposed plans to divert the course of theSenneRiver to utilize the waters to better assist in fortifying the city as well as to alleviate flooding that periodically devastated thelower town. The measures largely failed to be enacted. He also drafted an early lunar map. Van Langren died in Brussels.