Johann Heinrich Lambert was a Swiss mathematician, physicist and astronomer. Born in the Republic of Mulhouse in 1728, Lambert died at the age of forty-nine. He is widely praised for his invention of the hygrometer, which is used to measure the humidity in the air. Lambert is also credited for his successes in the Lambert-Beer-Bouguer law and the transverse Mercator projection. Johann Heinrich Lambert did not come from the richest families. His parents were tailors. Therefore, at the age of twelve, recognizing his family's financial situation, Lambert stopped traditional education and dropped out of school. He worked alongside his father to help provide. Lambert, however, was not entirely deterred. He was proficient in both French and Latin and spent his free time educating himself to the best of his ability. Only after becoming assistant to Professor Basler Zeitung at the University of Basel was he able to resume his studies. He then had a short stint as a clerk due to his impeccable handwriting. When he was twenty years old he was guardian of Count Salis' children ...