a Flemish polymath who made significant contributions to various disciplines including cosmography, mathematics, navigation and cartography. He also built new and improved scientific instruments and made military engineering designs. Coignet was a scientist at the court of the governors of the Spanish Netherlands Albert VII, Archduke of Austria and Isabella Clara Eugenia where he held a position similar to that of his compatriot Simon Stevin at the rival court of Maurice, Prince of Orange. Strongly encouraged by Gillis Hooftman in 1580 Coignet published a treatise on navigation entitled Nieuwe Onderwijsinghe op de principaelste Puncten der Zeevaert ('New Instructions on the Principal Points of Navigation'). It was published by the Antwerp publisher Hendrik Hendriksen as an appendix to the Dutch-language translation of Pedro de Medina's Arte de Navegar.
