Editing History of science (section)

====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}} }}