-
1 Su Song (Su Sung)
SUBJECT AREA: Horology[br]b. 1020 Chinad. 1101 China[br]Chinese astronomer and maker of a mechanical clock.[br]Su Song had a model armillary sphere in his home, which enabled him to study and understand the instrument, but he could not receive an imperial command to make a full-size one before holding an official position. This he attained, and he moved in high official circles in Imperial China; his official appointments included Ambassador, Minister of State and Deputy Imperial Tutor. At the same time he was an outstanding astronomer and calendrical scientist. With the assistance of Han Gonglian, he constructed a water-driven mechanical escapement clock and clocktower in 1088, which he described in detail in his Xin Yi Xian Fa Yao, completed in 1094; this book was noteworthy for illustrations of the armillary sphere and its component parts. The tower included an armillary sphere and celestial globe with clock drive. By applying clockwork to the observational side of the sphere, Su Song anticipated the clockwork drive of the telescope introduced by Robert Hooke six centuries later.Su Song was also the pharmaceutical naturalist of the Tu Jing Ben Cao of 1061.[br]Bibliography1094, Xin Yi Xian Fa Yao.Further ReadingJ.Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959–86, Vols III, pp. 208, 361–6; VI. 1, 140, 174, 227, 252, 281, 335, 475, 477;Heavenly Clockwork, 1960, pp. 2–60, 64, 68, 70, 93–4, 115–18, 123–4, 133, 160, 162;Clerks and Craftsmen in China and the West, 1970, pp. 9, 6–7, 11–12, 91, 130–1, 192, 210ff., 221–3, 235, 280, 406.LRD -
2 Guo Shoujing (Kuo Shou-Ching)
[br]b. 1231 Chinad. 1316 China[br]Chinese mathematician, astronomer and civil engineer.[br]First, from 1262, he was engaged in hydraulic-engineering works for Kublai Khan. He began astronomical and calendrical investigations in 1276, and became the greatest astronomer of the Yuan dynasty. He perfected interpolation formulae (a method of finite differences) and was the founder of the study of spherical trigonometry in China; this was applied to the circles of the heavenly sphere. He planned the Ji Zhou, the summit section of the Grand Canal through the Shandong foothills, in 1283. Although the canal had to await further improvement before it could become fully effective, it was nevertheless the world's first successful entirely artificial summit canal.Guo Shoujing was responsible for the construction of the Tong Hui He (Channel of Communicating Grace) canal with twenty lock gates in 1293, in addition to the overhaul of the entire Grand Canal. He constructed a number of devices, including 40 ft (12 m) gnomons in 1276, with which he made some of the most accurate measurements of the sun's solstitial shadows, the results of which were collected in a book that is now lost. Between 1276 and 1279 he also constructed at least one water-driven mechanical escapement clock with sophisticated jack work, and the Beijing observatory and its equipment.[br]Further ReadingJ.Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959–1971, vols III, pp. 48–50, 109–10, 294, 296, 299, 349, 350; IV. 2, pp. 504–5; IV.3, pp. 312ff., 319, 355; Heavenly Clockwork, 1960, pp. 134, 136ff., 159, 160, 163;Clerks and Craftsmen in China and the West, 1970, pp. 2, 5, 9–10, 16, 96, 398.LRDBiographical history of technology > Guo Shoujing (Kuo Shou-Ching)
-
3 Yi-Xing (I-Hsing)
SUBJECT AREA: Horology[br]b. c. 672/683 Chinad. 727 China[br]Chinese astronomer and mathematician.[br]A Tantric Buddhist monk, Yi-Xing was one of the greatest astronomers and mathematicians in Chinese history. He was much influenced by Indian and therefore Hellenic astronomy. Around 725, he constructed armillary spheres with ecliptically mounted sighting tubes for taking measurements in ecliptic co-ordinates. With these instruments he took many readings of star positions and may even have discovered the proper motion of the stars. Yi-Xing's Da Yan Li Shu calendar was the result of an imperial commission to reform the calendar. It was edited the year after his death, in 728, and was officially adopted the following year. This calendar gave a nearly correct value for the irregularity of the movement of the Sun and came closer than previous attempts to calculate the day of true syzygy. Yi-Xing's method of interpolation was identical to that used by Gauss in the eighteenth century. He was also the inventor of the "water wheel link work escapement" mechanism as used later in the clock of Su Song.[br]Further ReadingJ.Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959–65, vols III, pp. 37–8; IV.2, pp. 471ff., 532–3.——1960, Heavenly Clockwork, pp. 17–8, 20–1, 23–5, 62, 72, 74ff., 85, 89, 94, 98, 104–5, 107, 112, 122–3, 132, 139, 151, 153, 154, 166, 175, 177, 180, 182, 187.LRD -
4 Zhang Sixun (Chang Ssu-Hsun)
SUBJECT AREA: Horology[br]b. fl. late 10th century[br]Chinese astronomer and clockmaker who built the earliest recorded astronomical clock tower with a hydromechanical escapement.[br]Most clepsydra clocks, such as that of al-Jarazi, measured time continuously by the constant flow of a liquid and most mechanical clocks measure time discontinuously by means of an escapement. The clepsydra clock devised by Zhang Sixun in 976 and completed in 979 was unusual as it incorporated an escapement. It consisted of a large wheel with buckets around its periphery. A constant stream of water was directed into one of the buckets until it reached a predetermined weight, this released the wheel, allowing it to rotate to a new position where the process was repeated (this mechanism may have been introduced by the Chinese astronomer and mathematician Zhang Heng in the second century). The water was later replaced by mercury to prevent freezing in winter. With suitable gearing the movement of the wheel was used to drive a celestial globe, a carousel for written time announcements and jacks for audible time signals. This clock has not survived and is known only from the work Hsin I Hsiang Fa Yao (New Armillary Sphere and Celestial Globe System Essentials), which was printed in 1172 and is ascribed to Su Song. This work also describes two similar but later astronomical clock towers with water-wheel escape-ments. Several models of the water-wheel escapement have been constructed from the description in this work.[br]Further ReadingJ.Needham (ed.), 1965, Science and Civilisation in China Vol. IV.2, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 38, 111, 165, 463, 469–71, 490, 524, 527–8, 533, 540.J.H.Combridge, 1975, "The astronomical clocktowers of Chang Ssu-Hsun and his successors, A.D. 976 to 1126", Antiquarian Horology 9: 288–301.J.Needham, Wang Ling and J.de Solla Price, 1986, Heavenly Clockwork. The Great Astronomical Clocks of Medieval China (2nd edn with supplement by J.H.Combridge), London (for a broader view of Chinese horology).J.H.Combridge, 1979, "Clockmaking in China", in The Country Life International Dictionary of Clocks, ed. Alan Smith, London.DVBiographical history of technology > Zhang Sixun (Chang Ssu-Hsun)
См. также в других словарях:
Joseph Needham — For the English cricketer, see Joseph Needham (cricketer). For the Saskatchewan politician, see Joseph Needham (Canadian politician). Joseph Needham Born Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham 6 Dec … Wikipedia
Flat Earth — For other uses, see Flat Earth (disambiguation). The Flammarion engraving (1888) depicts a traveller who arrives at the edge of a flat Earth and sticks his head through the firmament … Wikipedia
Water clock — For the individual water clock at The Children s Museum of Indianapolis, see Water clock (Indianapolis). A display of two outflow water clocks from the Ancient Agora Museum in Athens. The top is an original from the late 5th century BC. The… … Wikipedia
Joseph Needham — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Needham. Le biochimiste et sinologue britannique Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (9 décembre 1900 – 24 mars 1995) a acquis une renommée mondiale en menant des recherches sur l histoire des sciences et des… … Wikipédia en Français
Нидэм, Джозеф — Джозеф Нидэм Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham … Википедия
Джозеф Нидэм — Ноэль Джозеф Теренс Монтгомери Нидэм, в отечественной литературе иногда называется Нидхэм (англ. Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, кит. 李约瑟, пиньинь Lǐ Yuēsè; 9 декабря 1900 24 марта 1995). Выдающийся британский учёный широкого профиля:… … Википедия
Нидэм — Нидэм, Джозеф Джозеф Нидэм Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham 200px Дата рождения: 6 декабря 1900(1900 12 06) Место рождения: Лондон Дата с … Википедия
Нидэм Джозеф — Ноэль Джозеф Теренс Монтгомери Нидэм, в отечественной литературе иногда называется Нидхэм (англ. Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, кит. 李约瑟, пиньинь Lǐ Yuēsè; 9 декабря 1900 24 марта 1995). Выдающийся британский учёный широкого профиля:… … Википедия
Decimal time — French decimal clock from the time of the French Revolution Decimal time is the representation of the time of day using units which are decimally related. This term is often used to refer specifically to French Revolutionary Time, which divides… … Wikipedia
Wang Ling (20 c. historian) — Wang Ling (王玲, 1917 or 1918 1994) was a Chinese historian and educator known for his collaboration with Joseph Needham on the history of science and technology in China.BiographyWang Ling was born in Nantong, China, and graduated in history from… … Wikipedia
Derek de Solla Price — Derek John de Solla Price (* 22. Januar 1922 in Leyton, Großbritannien; † 3. September 1983) war bis zu seinem Tode Professor für Wissenschaftsgeschichte und Mitbegründer der Scientometrie, also der quantitativen Messung der Wissenschaft. Die… … Deutsch Wikipedia
