Channels Chinese Culture Chinese History Zhang Heng--The Famous Astronomer in Han Dynasty
| Zhang Heng--The Famous Astronomer in Han Dynasty |
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| Written by TONY WANG |
| Saturday, 08 November 2008 18:13 |
 Zhang Heng was a Chinese mathematician, astronomer and geographer living between A.D. 100 - 200 in eastern Han Dynasty. He was born into an aristocratic family. In his lifetime, he wrote a great deal of literary works, which gained him considerable fame as a young man. He served several positions in the government but later refused promotion in his career on several occasions and spent the rest of life far away from the capital city, where he almost isolated himself from the world, focusing on scientific studies.
There were many pseudoscientific theories concerning the universe and Earth at that time. His theory was considered very absurd, because it was quite different from what people normally held. His vision of the universe was: the sky is like an egg which is as round as a crossbow pellet. He thinks the Earth is like the yolk of the egg, floating alone in the centre of the universe.
In the year of A.D. 132. Zhang Heng invented the seismoscope for predicting/measuring earthquakes. A similar device was not create in Europe until sixteen hundred years later when a seismoscope was invented again in France. It has successfully detected a violent earthquake in a province west of Luoyang.
After years of observation of the sky, Zhang Heng was able to draw a relatively detailed map of the stars. His star map showed 124 constellations consisting of a total of 2500 stars, 320 of which were bright stars with known names as of today. Zhang Heng's also had craftsmanship, enabling him to build a water-powered celestial sphere. It may have been the world's oldest three-dimensional models of the heavens. He then used the power of water to make his globe complete one rotation every year, showing how the positions of the stars changed from a winter solstice to the next. With this advanced instrument, Zhang was able to make more accurate star maps than earlier Chinese astronomers. He also gave appropriate explanation to the world for the first time on the moon eclipse. In addition, Zhang was also a famous and talented poet and wrote more than twenty beautiful poems.He has continued legacy influence on Chinese culture. His works titled 'Dong Jing Glimpse' and 'Xi Jing Glimpse' have vividly descrided about the local culture and folk art performances in the cities of Xi'an and Luoyang. |
| Last Updated on Saturday, 08 November 2008 18:42 |
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