Editing History of science (section)

==Ancient and medieval South Asia and East Asia==
Mathematical achievements from Mesopotamia had some influence on the development of mathematics in India, and there were confirmed transmissions of mathematical ideas between India and China, which were bidirectional.<ref name=joseph2011a>{{cite book | last = Joseph | first = George G. | date = 2011 | chapter = The history of mathematics: Alternative perspectives | title = The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics | edition = 3rd | pages = 418–449 | publisher = Princeton University Press | location = New Jersey | isbn = 978-0691135267}}</ref> Nevertheless, the mathematical and scientific achievements in India and particularly in China occurred largely independently<ref name = "sivin1985">{{cite journal | last = Sivin | first = Nathan | author-link = Nathan Sivin | title = Why the Scientific Revolution did not take place in China – or did it? | journal = The Environmentalist | volume = 5 | issue = 1 | pages = 39–50 | date = 1985 | doi = 10.1007/BF02239866 | bibcode = 1985ThEnv...5...39S | s2cid = 45700796 | url = https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02239866 | access-date = 8 June 2021 | archive-date = 8 June 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210608185003/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02239866 | url-status = live }}</ref> from those of Europe and the confirmed early influences that these two civilizations had on the development of science in Europe in the pre-modern era were indirect, with Mesopotamia and later the Islamic World acting as intermediaries.<ref name=joseph2011a/> The arrival of modern science, which grew out of the [[Scientific Revolution]], in India and China and the greater Asian region in general can be traced to the scientific activities of Jesuit missionaries who were interested in studying the region's [[flora]] and [[fauna]] during the 16th to 17th century.<ref name=bartholomew2003>{{cite book | last = Bartholomew | first = James R. | date = 2003 | editor1-last = Heilbron | editor1-first = John L. | chapter = Asia | title = The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science | pages = 51–55 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = New York| isbn = 978-0195112290}}</ref>

===India===
{{Further|History of science and technology in the Indian subcontinent}}

====Mathematics====
{{anchor|Indian astronomy|Indian mathematics}}
{{Main|Indian mathematics|}}
[[File:Bakhshali_numerals_2.jpg|thumb|The numerical system of the [[Bakhshali manuscript]]]]
[[File:Brahmaguptra's_theorem.svg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Brahmagupta's theorem]]]]
The earliest traces of mathematical knowledge in the Indian subcontinent appear with the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]] ({{cx|3300|1300&nbsp;BCE}}). The people of this civilization made bricks whose dimensions were in the proportion 4:2:1, which is favorable for the stability of a brick structure.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Projects/Pearce/chapter-3/|title=3: Early Indian culture – Indus civilisation|work=st-and.ac.uk}}</ref> They also tried to standardize measurement of length to a high degree of accuracy. They designed a ruler—the ''Mohenjo-daro ruler''—whose length of approximately {{cvt|1.32|inch}} was divided into ten equal parts. Bricks manufactured in ancient Mohenjo-daro often had dimensions that were integral multiples of this unit of length.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bisht |first=R. S.|year=1982|chapter=Excavations at Banawali: 1974–77|editor-last=Possehl |editor-first=Gregory L. |title=Harappan Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective|pages=113–124 |publisher=Oxford and IBH Publishing}}</ref>

The [[Bakhshali manuscript]] contains problems involving [[arithmetic]], [[algebra]] and [[geometry]], including [[Mensuration (mathematics)|mensuration]]. The topics covered include fractions, square roots, [[Arithmetic progression|arithmetic]] and [[geometric progression]]s, solutions of simple equations, [[simultaneous linear equations]], [[quadratic equations]] and [[indeterminate equations]] of the second degree.<ref name="Plofker">{{citation |last=Plofker |first=Kim |title=Mathematics in India |title-link=Mathematics in India (book) |page=158 |year=2009 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-12067-6 |author-link=Kim Plofker}}</ref> In the 3rd century BCE, [[Pingala]] presents the ''Pingala-sutras'',  the earliest known treatise on [[Sanskrit prosody]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Vaman Shivaram Apte |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ArxvCxV1l4C&pg=PA648 |title=Sanskrit Prosody and Important Literary and Geographical Names in the Ancient History of India |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1970 |isbn=978-81-208-0045-8 |pages=648–649}}</ref> He also presents a numerical system by adding one to the sum of [[place value]]s.<ref>B. van Nooten, "Binary Numbers in Indian Antiquity", Journal of Indian Studies, Volume 21, 1993, pp. 31–50</ref> Pingala's work also includes material related to the [[Fibonacci numbers]], called ''{{IAST|mātrāmeru}}''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Susantha Goonatilake |url=https://archive.org/details/towardglobalscie0000goon |title=Toward a Global Science |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-253-33388-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/towardglobalscie0000goon/page/126 126] |quote=Virahanka Fibonacci. |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Indian astronomer and mathematician [[Aryabhata]] (476–550), in his ''[[Aryabhatiya]]'' (499) introduced the [[sine]] function in [[trigonometry]] and the number 0. In 628, [[Brahmagupta]] suggested that [[gravity]] was a force of attraction.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Pickover| first=Clifford| author-link=Clifford A. Pickover| title=Archimedes to Hawking: laws of science and the great minds behind them| publisher=[[Oxford University Press US]]| year=2008| page=105| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SQXcpvjcJBUC&pg=PA105| isbn=978-0-19-533611-5| access-date=7 May 2020| archive-date=18 January 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118060420/https://books.google.com/books?id=SQXcpvjcJBUC| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Mainak Kumar Bose, ''Late Classical India'', A. Mukherjee & Co., 1988, p. 277.</ref> He also lucidly explained the use of [[0 (number)|zero]] as both a placeholder and a [[decimal digit]], along with the [[Hindu–Arabic numeral system]] now used universally throughout the world. [[Arabic]] translations of the two astronomers' texts were soon available in the [[Caliph|Islamic world]], introducing what would become [[Arabic numerals]] to the Islamic world by the 9th century.<ref name="ifrah">Ifrah, Georges. 1999. ''The Universal History of Numbers : From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer'', Wiley. {{ISBN|978-0-471-37568-5}}.</ref><ref name="oconnor">O'Connor, J. J. and E. F. Robertson. 2000. [http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Indian_numerals.html 'Indian Numerals'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929131009/http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/%7Ehistory/HistTopics/Indian_numerals.html |date=29 September 2007 }}, ''MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive'', School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland.</ref>

[[Narayana Pandita (mathematician)|Narayana Pandita]] (1340–1400<ref>{{Cite web |title=Narayana - Biography |url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Narayana/ |access-date=2022-10-03 |website=Maths History |language=en}}</ref>) was an Indian [[mathematician]]. [[Kim Plofker|Plofker]] writes that his texts were the most significant Sanskrit mathematics treatises after those of [[Bhaskara II]], other than the [[Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics|Kerala school]].<ref>{{citation | author=[[Kim Plofker]] | title=Mathematics in India: 500 BCE–1800 CE | title-link= Mathematics in India (book) | year=2009 | publisher=Princeton University Press | isbn= 978-0-691-12067-6}}</ref>{{rp|52}} He wrote the ''[[Ganita Kaumudi]]'' (lit. "Moonlight of mathematics") in 1356 about mathematical operations.<ref>{{citation | last=Kusuba|first=Takanori | contribution=Indian Rules for the Decomposition of Fractions | year=2004 | title=Studies in the History of the Exact Sciences in Honour of [[David Pingree]] | publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] | isbn=9004132023 | issn=0169-8729 | editor1=Charles Burnett | editor2=Jan P. Hogendijk | editor3=Kim Plofker |display-editors = 3 | editor4=Michio Yano | page = 497}}</ref> The work anticipated many developments in [[combinatorics]].

Between the 14th and 16th centuries, the [[Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics]] made significant advances in astronomy and especially mathematics, including fields such as trigonometry and analysis. In particular, [[Madhava of Sangamagrama]] led advancement in [[mathematical analysis|analysis]] by providing the infinite and taylor series expansion of some trigonometric functions and pi approximation.<ref name=katz>{{Cite journal|last=Katz |first=Victor J. |author-link=Victor J. Katz |date=June 1995 |title=Ideas of Calculus in Islam and India |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0025570X.1995.11996307 |journal=[[Mathematics Magazine]] |language=en |volume=68 |issue=3 |pages=163–174 |doi=10.1080/0025570X.1995.11996307 |issn=0025-570X |jstor=2691411}}</ref>  [[Parameshvara]] (1380–1460), presents a case of the Mean Value theorem in his commentaries on [[Govindasvāmi]] and [[Bhāskara II]].<ref>J. J. O'Connor and E. F. Robertson (2000). [https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Paramesvara/ Paramesvara], ''[[MacTutor History of Mathematics archive]]''.</ref> The ''[[Yuktibhāṣā]]''  was written by [[Jyeshtadeva]] in 1530.<ref name="gybrima">{{cite book |last=Sarma |first=K. V. |author-link=K. V. Sarma |url=https://www.springer.com/math/history+of+mathematics/book/978-1-84882-072-2 |title=Ganita-Yukti-Bhasa (Rationales in Mathematical Astronomy) of Jyesthadeva |last2=Ramasubramanian |first2=K. |last3=Srinivas |first3=M. D. |last4=Sriram |first4=M. S. |date=2008 |publisher=Springer (jointly with Hindustan Book Agency, New Delhi) |isbn=978-1-84882-072-2 |edition=1st |series=Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences |volume=I-II |pages=LXVIII, 1084 |bibcode=2008rma..book.....S |access-date=17 December 2009}}</ref>

==== Astronomy ====
{{Main|Indian astronomy|}}
[[File:Page_from_Lilavati,_the_first_volume_of_Siddhānta_Śiromaṇī._Use_of_the_Pythagorean_theorem_in_the_corner.jpg|thumb|Copy of the [[Siddhānta Shiromani|''Siddhānta Śiromaṇī''.]] c. 1650 ]]
The first textual mention of astronomical concepts comes from the [[Veda]]s, religious literature of India.<ref name="Sarma-Ast-Ind">{{cite encyclopedia|last =Sarma|first = K.V.| title=Astronomy in India |date = 2008 |encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures|editor-last = Selin|editor-first = Helaine|doi= 10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_9554|publisher = Springer, Dordrecht|isbn = 978-1-4020-4425-0|pages = 317–321}}</ref> According to Sarma (2008): "One finds in the [[Rigveda]] intelligent speculations about the genesis of the universe from nonexistence, the configuration of the universe, the [[Spherical Earth|spherical self-supporting earth]], and the year of 360 days divided into 12 equal parts of 30 days each with a periodical intercalary month.".<ref name="Sarma-Ast-Ind" />

The first 12 chapters of the ''[[Siddhānta Shiromani|Siddhanta Shiromani]]'', written by [[Bhāskara II|Bhāskara]] in the 12th century, cover topics such as: mean longitudes of the planets; true longitudes of the planets; the three problems of diurnal rotation; syzygies; lunar eclipses; solar eclipses; latitudes of the planets; risings and settings; the moon's crescent; conjunctions of the planets with each other; conjunctions of the planets with the fixed stars; and the patas of the sun and moon. The 13 chapters of the second part cover the nature of the sphere, as well as significant astronomical and trigonometric calculations based on it.

In the ''[[Tantrasangraha]]'' treatise, [[Nilakantha Somayaji]]'s updated the Aryabhatan model for the interior planets, Mercury, and Venus and the equation that he specified for the center of these planets was more accurate than the ones in European or Islamic astronomy until the time of [[Johannes Kepler]] in the 17th century.<ref name="joseph2011j">{{cite book |last=Joseph |first=George G. |title=The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics |date=2011 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691135267 |edition=3rd |location=New Jersey |pages=418–449 |chapter=A Passage to Infinity: The Kerala Episode}}</ref> [[Jai Singh II]] of [[Kingdom of Amber|Jaipur]] constructed five [[Observatory|observatories]] called [[Jantar Mantar]]s in total, in [[Jantar Mantar, New Delhi|New Delhi]], [[Jantar Mantar (Jaipur)|Jaipur]], [[Jantar Mantar, Ujjain|Ujjain]], [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]] and [[Jantar Mantar, Varanasi|Varanasi]]; they were completed between 1724 and 1735.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Observatory Sites |url=http://www.jantarmantar.org/learn/observatories/sites/index.html |access-date=2024-01-29}}</ref>

====Grammar====
Some of the earliest linguistic activities can be found in [[Iron Age India]] (1st millennium BCE) with the analysis of [[Sanskrit]] for the purpose of the correct recitation and interpretation of [[Vedas|Vedic]] texts. The most notable grammarian of Sanskrit was {{IAST|[[Pāṇini]]}} (c. 520–460 BCE), whose grammar formulates close to 4,000 rules for Sanskrit. Inherent in his analytic approach are the concepts of the [[phoneme]], the [[morpheme]] and the [[root]]. The [[Tolkāppiyam]] text, composed in the early centuries of the common era,<ref name= "weiss2009d" >{{cite book | last = Weiss | first = Richard S. | year = 2009 | chapter = The invasion of utopia: The corruption of Siddha medicine by Ayurveda | title = Recipes for Immortality: Healing, Religion, and Community in South India | pages = 79–106 | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = New York, New York | isbn = 978-0195335231}}</ref> is a comprehensive text on Tamil grammar, which includes sutras on orthography, phonology, etymology, morphology, semantics, prosody, sentence structure and the significance of context in language.

====Medicine====
[[File:The_Susruta-Samhita_or_Sahottara-Tantra_(A_Treatise_on_Ayurvedic_Medicine)_LACMA_M.87.271a-g_(1_of_8).jpg|thumb|220x220px|Palm leaves of the ''[[Sushruta Samhita]]'' or ''Sahottara-Tantra'' from [[Nepal]],]]
Findings from [[Neolithic]] graveyards in what is now Pakistan show evidence of proto-dentistry among an early farming culture.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Coppa|first1=A.|title=Early Neolithic tradition of dentistry: Flint tips were surprisingly effective for drilling tooth enamel in a prehistoric population |journal=Nature |volume=440 |date=6 April 2006 |doi=10.1038/440755a |pages=755–756 |pmid=16598247 |issue=7085 |bibcode=2006Natur.440..755C |s2cid=6787162|display-authors=etal}}</ref> The ancient text [[Sushruta Samhita|Suśrutasamhitā]] of [[Sushruta|Suśruta]] describes procedures on various forms of surgery, including [[rhinoplasty]], the repair of torn ear lobes, perineal [[lithotomy]], cataract surgery, and several other excisions and other surgical procedures.<ref>E. Schultheisz (1981), History of Physiology, Pergamon Press, {{ISBN|978-0080273426}}, page 60-61, Quote: "(...) the Charaka Samhita and the Susruta Samhita, both being recensions of two ancient traditions of the Hindu medicine".</ref><ref>Wendy Doniger (2014), On Hinduism, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0199360079}}, page 79;

Sarah Boslaugh (2007), Encyclopedia of Epidemiology, Volume 1, SAGE Publications, {{ISBN|978-1412928168}}, page 547, '''Quote''': "The Hindu text known as Sushruta Samhita is possibly the earliest effort to classify diseases and injuries"</ref> The ''[[Charaka Samhita]]'' of [[Charaka]] describes ancient theories on human body, [[etiology]], [[Symptom|symptomology]] and [[Pharmacology|therapeutics]] for a wide range of diseases.<ref name="Glucklichtsov141">{{cite book |author=Ariel Glucklich |url=https://archive.org/details/stridesvishnuhin00gluc_414 |title=The Strides of Vishnu: Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-531405-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/stridesvishnuhin00gluc_414/page/n155 141]–142 |url-access=registration}}</ref> It also includes sections on the importance of diet, hygiene, prevention, medical education, and the teamwork of a physician, nurse and patient necessary for recovery to health.<ref name="Svoboda1992">{{cite book |author=Robert Svoboda |title=Ayurveda: Life, Health and Longevity |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1992 |isbn=978-0140193220 |pages=189–190}}</ref><ref name="valiathan1186">MS Valiathan (2009), An Ayurvedic view of life, Current Science, Volume 96, Issue 9, pages 1186-1192</ref><ref>F.A. Hassler, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1764939 Caraka Samhita], Science, Vol. 22, No. 545, pages 17-18</ref>

==== Politics and state ====
An ancient Indian treatise on [[Public administration|statecraft]], [[economics|economic]] policy and [[military strategy]] by Kautilya<ref>{{cite journal | first=I.W. | last=Mabbett | date=1 April 1964| title=The Date of the Arthaśāstra | journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume=84 | issue=2 | pages=162–169 | doi=10.2307/597102 | jstor=597102 }}<br />{{cite book | last=Trautmann | first=Thomas R. | author-link=Thomas Trautmann | title={{IAST|Kauṭilya}} and the Arthaśāstra: A Statistical Investigation of the Authorship and Evolution of the Text | year=1971 | publisher=Brill | pages=10 | quote =while in his character as author of an ''arthaśāstra'' he is generally referred to by his ''[[gotra]]'' name, {{IAST|Kauṭilya}}.}}</ref> and {{IAST|Viṣhṇugupta}},<ref>Mabbett 1964<br />Trautmann 1971:5 "the very last verse of the work...is the unique instance of the personal name {{IAST|Viṣṇugupta}} rather than the ''[[gotra]]'' name {{IAST|Kauṭilya}} in the ''Arthaśāstra''.</ref> who are traditionally identified with [[Chanakya|{{IAST|Chāṇakya}}]] (c. 350–283 BCE). In this treatise, the behaviors and relationships of the people, the King, the State, the Government Superintendents, Courtiers, Enemies, Invaders, and Corporations are analyzed and documented. [[Roger Boesche]] describes the ''[[Arthashastra|Arthaśāstra]]'' as "a book of political realism, a book analyzing how the political world does work and not very often stating how it ought to work, a book that frequently discloses to a king what calculating and sometimes brutal measures he must carry out to preserve the state and the common good."<ref>{{cite book| author-link= Roger Boesche | last=Boesche | first=Roger | title=The First Great Political Realist: Kautilya and His Arthashastra | year=2002 | publisher=Lexington Books | isbn=978-0-7391-0401-9 | page=17}}</ref>

==== Logic ====
The development of Indian logic dates back to the Chandahsutra of Pingala and ''[[anviksiki]]'' of Medhatithi Gautama (c. 6th century BCE); the [[Vyākaraṇa|Sanskrit grammar]] rules of [[Pāṇini]] (c. 5th century BCE); the [[Vaisheshika]] school's analysis of [[atomism]] (c. 6th century BCE to 2nd century BCE); the analysis of [[inference]] by [[Nyāya Sūtras|Gotama]] (c. 6th century BCE to 2nd century CE), founder of the [[Nyaya]] school of [[Hindu philosophy]]; and the [[tetralemma]] of [[Nagarjuna]] (c. 2nd century CE).

[[Indian philosophy|Indian]] logic stands as one of the three original traditions of [[logic]], alongside the [[Organon|Greek]] and the [[Chinese logic]]. The Indian tradition continued to develop through early to modern times, in the form of the [[Navya-Nyāya]] school of logic.

In the 2nd century, the [[Buddhist philosophy|Buddhist]] philosopher [[Nagarjuna]] refined the ''Catuskoti'' form of logic. The Catuskoti is also often glossed ''[[Tetralemma]]'' (Greek)  which is the name for a largely comparable, but not equatable, 'four corner argument' within the tradition of [[Classical logic]].

Navya-Nyāya developed a sophisticated language and conceptual scheme that allowed it to raise, analyse, and solve problems in logic and epistemology. It systematised all the Nyāya concepts into four main categories: sense or perception (pratyakşa), inference (anumāna), comparison or similarity ([[upamāna]]), and testimony (sound or word; śabda).

===China===
{{Further|History of science and technology in China|List of Chinese discoveries|List of Chinese inventions}}
[[File:Sea island survey.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Liu Hui]]'s survey of a sea island from the ''[[Haidao Suanjing]]'', 3rd century AD]]

====Chinese mathematics====
{{Further|Chinese mathematics|History of mathematics#Chinese}}
From the earliest the Chinese used a positional decimal system on counting boards in order to calculate. To express 10, a single rod is placed in the second box from the right. The spoken language uses a similar system to English: e.g. four thousand two hundred and seven. No symbol was used for zero. By the 1st century BCE, negative numbers and decimal fractions were in use and ''[[The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art]]'' included methods for extracting higher order roots by [[Horner's method]] and solving linear equations and by [[Pythagorean theorem|Pythagoras' theorem]]. Cubic equations were solved in the [[Tang dynasty]] and solutions of equations of order higher than 3 appeared in print in 1245 CE by [[Ch'in Chiu-shao]]. [[Pascal's triangle]] for binomial coefficients was described around 1100 by [[Jia Xian]].<ref>{{cite book
 |last1=Martzloff
 |first1=Jean-Claude
 |title=A History of Chinese Mathematics
 |year=2006
 |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg
 |isbn=9783540337836
 |page=17
 |language=English, Japanese, Chinese
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ACK1jreKgCoC&q=jia+xian+pascal+triangle
}}
</ref>

Although the first attempts at an axiomatization of geometry appear in the [[Mohist]] canon in 330 BCE, [[Liu Hui]] developed algebraic methods in geometry in the 3rd century CE and also calculated [[pi]] to 5 significant figures. In 480, [[Zu Chongzhi]] improved this by discovering the ratio <math>\tfrac{355}{113}</math> which remained the most accurate value for 1200 years.

====Astronomical observations====
{{main|Chinese astronomy}}
[[File:Su Song Star Map 1.JPG|thumb|left|One of the [[star map]]s from [[Su Song]]'s ''Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao'' published in 1092, featuring a cylindrical projection similar to [[Mercator projection|Mercator]], and the corrected position of the [[pole star]] thanks to [[Shen Kuo]]'s astronomical observations.{{sfnp|Needham|1986a|p=208}}]]
Astronomical observations from China constitute the longest continuous sequence from any civilization and include records of sunspots (112 records from 364 BCE), supernovas (1054), lunar and solar eclipses. By the 12th century, they could reasonably accurately make predictions of eclipses, but the knowledge of this was lost during the Ming dynasty, so that the Jesuit [[Matteo Ricci]] gained much favor in 1601 by his predictions.<ref>Needham p422</ref>{{Incomplete short citation|date=December 2022}} By 635 Chinese astronomers had observed that the tails of comets always point away from the sun.

From antiquity, the Chinese used an equatorial system for describing the skies and a star map from 940 was drawn using a cylindrical ([[Mercator projection|Mercator]]) projection. The use of an [[armillary sphere]] is recorded from the 4th century BCE and a sphere permanently mounted in equatorial axis from 52 BCE. In 125 CE [[Zhang Heng]] used water power to rotate the sphere in real time. This included rings for the meridian and ecliptic. By 1270 they had incorporated the principles of the Arab [[torquetum]].

In the [[Song Empire]] (960–1279) of [[Imperial China]], Chinese [[scholar-official]]s unearthed, studied, and cataloged ancient artifacts.

====Inventions====
{{main|List of Chinese inventions}}
[[File:EastHanSeismograph.JPG|thumb|upright|A modern replica of Han dynasty polymath scientist [[Zhang Heng]]'s [[seismometer]] of 132 CE]]
To better prepare for calamities, Zhang Heng invented a [[Zhang Heng#Zhang's seismoscope|seismometer]] in 132 CE which provided instant alert to authorities in the capital Luoyang that an earthquake had occurred in a location indicated by a specific [[Cardinal direction|cardinal or ordinal direction]].<ref>[[Rafe de Crespigny|de Crespigny, Rafe]]. (2007). ''A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD)''. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, p. 1050. {{ISBN|90-04-15605-4}}.</ref><ref>Morton, W. Scott and Charlton M. Lewis. (2005). ''China: Its History and Culture''. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., p. 70. {{ISBN|0-07-141279-4}}.</ref> Although no tremors could be felt in the capital when Zhang told the court that an earthquake had just occurred in the northwest, a message came soon afterwards that an earthquake had indeed struck {{convert|400|to|500|km|mi|abbr=on}} northwest of Luoyang (in what is now modern [[Gansu]]).<ref>Minford & Lau (2002), 307; Balchin (2003), 26–27; Needham (1986a), 627; Needham (1986c), 484; Krebs (2003), 31.</ref> Zhang called his device the 'instrument for measuring the seasonal winds and the movements of the Earth' (Houfeng didong yi 候风地动仪), so-named because he and others thought that earthquakes were most likely caused by the enormous compression of trapped air.<ref name="needham volume 3 626">Needham (1986a), 626.</ref>

There are many notable contributors to early Chinese disciplines, inventions, and practices throughout the ages. One of the best examples would be the medieval Song Chinese [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095), a [[polymath]] and statesman who was the first to describe the [[magnetic]]-needle [[compass]] used for [[navigation]], discovered the concept of [[true north]], improved the design of the astronomical [[gnomon]], [[armillary sphere]], sight tube, and [[water clock|clepsydra]], and described the use of [[drydock]]s to repair boats. After observing the natural process of the inundation of [[silt]] and the find of [[Marine (ocean)|marine]] [[fossil]]s in the [[Taihang Mountains]] (hundreds of miles from the Pacific Ocean), Shen Kuo devised a theory of land formation, or [[geomorphology]]. He also adopted a theory of gradual [[Climate variability and change|climate change]] in regions over time, after observing [[petrified]] [[bamboo]] found underground at [[Yan'an]], Shaanxi. If not for Shen Kuo's writing,<ref>[[Shen Kuo]] 沈括 (1086, last supplement dated 1091), ''Meng Ch'i Pi Than (夢溪筆談, [[Dream Pool Essays]])'' as cited in {{harvnb|Needham|Robinson|Huang|2004|p=244}}</ref> the architectural works of [[Yu Hao]] would be little known, along with the inventor of [[movable type]] [[printing]], [[Bi Sheng]] (990–1051). Shen's contemporary [[Su Song]] (1020–1101) was also a brilliant polymath, an astronomer who created a celestial atlas of star maps, wrote a treatise related to [[botany]], [[zoology]], [[mineralogy]], and [[metallurgy]], and had erected a large [[astronomical]] [[clocktower]] in [[Kaifeng]] city in 1088. To operate the crowning [[armillary sphere]], his clocktower featured an [[escapement]] mechanism and the world's oldest known use of an endless power-transmitting [[chain drive]].{{sfnp|Needham|1986c|pp=111, 165, 445, 448, 456–457, 469–471}}

The [[Jesuit China missions]] of the 16th and 17th centuries "learned to appreciate the scientific achievements of this ancient culture and made them known in Europe. Through their correspondence European scientists first learned about the Chinese science and culture."<ref>Agustín Udías, ''Searching the Heavens and the Earth: The History of Jesuit Observatories''. (Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003). p. 53</ref> Western academic thought on the history of Chinese technology and science was galvanized by the work of [[Joseph Needham]] and the Needham Research Institute. Among the technological accomplishments of China were, according to the British scholar Needham, the [[hydraulics|water-powered]] [[celestial globe]] (Zhang Heng),<ref name="auto">{{Cite journal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/726943|title=Joseph Needham's Research on Chinese Machines in the Cross-Cultural History of Science and Technology|first1=Zhang|last1=Baichun|first2=Tian|last2=Miao|date=6 January 2019|journal=Technology and Culture|volume=60|issue=2|pages=616–624|doi=10.1353/tech.2019.0041 |pmid=31204349 |via=Project MUSE}}</ref> [[Graving dock|dry docks]], sliding [[calipers]], the double-action [[piston pump]],<ref name="auto"/> the [[blast furnace]],<ref name="auto1">{{Cite journal|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/454409a|title=The man who unveiled China|first=Simon|last=Winchester|date=6 July 2008|journal=Nature|volume=454|issue=7203|pages=409–411|via=nature.com|doi=10.1038/454409a|pmid=18650901 }}</ref> the multi-tube [[seed drill]], the [[wheelbarrow]],<ref name="auto1"/> the [[suspension bridge]],<ref name="auto1"/> the [[Fengshanche|winnowing machine]],<ref name="auto"/> [[gunpowder]],<ref name="auto1"/> the [[raised-relief map]], toilet paper,<ref name="auto1"/> the efficient harness,<ref name="auto"/> along with contributions in [[logic]], [[astronomy]], [[medicine]], and other fields.

However, cultural factors prevented these Chinese achievements from developing into "modern science". According to Needham, it may have been the religious and philosophical framework of Chinese intellectuals which made them unable to accept the ideas of laws of nature:
{{blockquote|It was not that there was no order in nature for the Chinese, but rather that it was not an order ordained by a rational personal being, and hence there was no conviction that rational personal beings would be able to spell out in their lesser earthly languages the divine code of laws which he had decreed aforetime. The [[Taoists]], indeed, would have scorned such an idea as being too naïve for the subtlety and complexity of the universe as they intuited it.{{sfnp|Needham|Wang|1954|p=581}} }}