Yes, that was what I just meant to google up as well. These maps were made by the venerable Buckminster Fuller. And he explains really nicely, how the Mercator projection was really sufficient when you navigate with ships, and how it even helps that the distortion gets you constant compass reading when you follow a "line" on the map, and what is a delicate curve in reality. It only entered the (first military, later public) conscience when air travel and intercontinental missiles became available that the geographic distance between Alaska and the USSR was quite small in places.
I know Fuller is a bit of a persona non-grata among scientific-minded people, because of his fantasy approach and his rejection of mathematics. But it was Einstein who said "imagination is more important than knowledge."
I know Fuller is a bit of a persona non-grata among scientific-minded people, because of his fantasy approach and his rejection of mathematics. But it was Einstein who said "imagination is more important than knowledge."