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梦溪笔谈 Dream Pool Essays - Encyclopedic mind at work
October 21, 2012, Sunday
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THE book "Dream Pool Essays," known as "Mengxi Bitan" in Chinese, is recognized worldwide as "a landmark in the history of science in China" and also as an important encyclopedia produced nearly 1,000 years ago.
It was the first book in the world to refer to the magnetic compass, describe movable type printing and explain the origin of fossils. It discussed a great variety of subjects, such as astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, anatomy, geology, cartography, archeology, atmospheric phenomena, medicine, agronomy, engineering, military affairs, laws, literature, history, music and fine arts.
This masterpiece encyclopedia was authored by Shen Kuo (1031-1095), a great scientist, scholar and statesman in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). His talent extended into nearly every field of learning.
Shen was known as a gifted mathematician, astronomer, geologist, zoologist, botanist, agronomist, archaeologist, engineer and inventor. He was also a famous poet and musician. In addition, he served as a high-ranking government official in many positions, including diplomat, finance minister and head of the Imperial Department of Astronomy.
However, among these diverse talents, Shen was above all a great scientific polymath. The British sinologist, historian and biochemist Joseph Needham (1900-95) praised Shen as "one of the greatest scientific minds in the Chinese history."
Born in today's Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Shen was a boy of insatiable curiosity who took an interest in everything around him from an early age.
When he was young, Shen traveled to many parts of the country and studied the plants, fossils, rivers, mountains, weather, local engineering projects and astronomical phenomena. He also conducted numerous experiments to test his discoveries and theories.
For example, he spent more than three years and drew more than 200 sketches before he finally came up with the concept of true north. He noted that compasses pointed to the magnetic north pole, not true north. The rest of the world only began to know of this more than 400 years later.
After his retirement, Shen settled down in a garden estate beside a rivulet and named it "Dream Brook." There he began to write "Mengxi Bitan" - which means literally "Brush Talks from the Dream Brook." Later, the work also became known as "Dream Pool Essays."
Shen explained the title of the book, saying that when he was writing he had only his brush and ink slab to "converse" with - so he called the work "brush talks."
The book is divided into three parts, comprising 507 essays. They explore a wide range of scientific topics and explain many of Shen's discoveries, inventions and theories, as well as natural and technological phenomena.
For instance, Shen's versatility saw him include a detailed description of movable type printing technology invented by his contemporary Bi Sheng around 1041-48, plus point out the different functions of human's pharynx and larynx.
Shen was way ahead of his time in many fields. Apart from creating the concept of true north, he hypothesized that land was formed by the erosion of mountains and deposition of silt, after observing fossils he discovered in a mountain range in northwest China.
Also, he developed techniques that laid the foundations for spherical trigonometry; he introduced arithmetic progression of higher order; he explained the rainbow as a phenomenon of atmospheric refraction; and he was one of the first people to record the phenomenon of unidentified flying objects.
Shen's great book has been translated into a number of languages, including English, German, French and Japanese.
It was the first book in the world to refer to the magnetic compass, describe movable type printing and explain the origin of fossils. It discussed a great variety of subjects, such as astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, anatomy, geology, cartography, archeology, atmospheric phenomena, medicine, agronomy, engineering, military affairs, laws, literature, history, music and fine arts.
This masterpiece encyclopedia was authored by Shen Kuo (1031-1095), a great scientist, scholar and statesman in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). His talent extended into nearly every field of learning.
Shen was known as a gifted mathematician, astronomer, geologist, zoologist, botanist, agronomist, archaeologist, engineer and inventor. He was also a famous poet and musician. In addition, he served as a high-ranking government official in many positions, including diplomat, finance minister and head of the Imperial Department of Astronomy.
However, among these diverse talents, Shen was above all a great scientific polymath. The British sinologist, historian and biochemist Joseph Needham (1900-95) praised Shen as "one of the greatest scientific minds in the Chinese history."
Born in today's Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Shen was a boy of insatiable curiosity who took an interest in everything around him from an early age.
When he was young, Shen traveled to many parts of the country and studied the plants, fossils, rivers, mountains, weather, local engineering projects and astronomical phenomena. He also conducted numerous experiments to test his discoveries and theories.
For example, he spent more than three years and drew more than 200 sketches before he finally came up with the concept of true north. He noted that compasses pointed to the magnetic north pole, not true north. The rest of the world only began to know of this more than 400 years later.
After his retirement, Shen settled down in a garden estate beside a rivulet and named it "Dream Brook." There he began to write "Mengxi Bitan" - which means literally "Brush Talks from the Dream Brook." Later, the work also became known as "Dream Pool Essays."
Shen explained the title of the book, saying that when he was writing he had only his brush and ink slab to "converse" with - so he called the work "brush talks."
The book is divided into three parts, comprising 507 essays. They explore a wide range of scientific topics and explain many of Shen's discoveries, inventions and theories, as well as natural and technological phenomena.
For instance, Shen's versatility saw him include a detailed description of movable type printing technology invented by his contemporary Bi Sheng around 1041-48, plus point out the different functions of human's pharynx and larynx.
Shen was way ahead of his time in many fields. Apart from creating the concept of true north, he hypothesized that land was formed by the erosion of mountains and deposition of silt, after observing fossils he discovered in a mountain range in northwest China.
Also, he developed techniques that laid the foundations for spherical trigonometry; he introduced arithmetic progression of higher order; he explained the rainbow as a phenomenon of atmospheric refraction; and he was one of the first people to record the phenomenon of unidentified flying objects.
Shen's great book has been translated into a number of languages, including English, German, French and Japanese.
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