Editing History of physics (section)

===India and China===
{{further|History of science and technology in China|History of Indian science and technology}}
[[File:Hindu-arabic1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The Hindu-Arabic numeral system. The inscriptions on the [[edicts of Ashoka]] (3rd century BCE) display this number system being used by the Imperial [[Maurya Empire|Mauryas]].]]
Important physical and mathematical traditions also existed in [[History of science and technology in China|ancient Chinese]] and [[History of Indian science and technology|Indian sciences]].

[[File:Su Song Star Map 1.JPG|left|thumb|upright=1.6|[[Star map]]s by the 11th century Chinese [[polymath]] [[Su Song]] are the oldest known [[Woodblock printing|woodblock-printed]] star maps to have survived to the present day. This example, dated 1092,<ref group="note">Click the image to see further details.</ref> employs the cylindrical[[equirectangular projection]].<ref>{{citation |last=Miyajima |first=Kazuhiko |year=1998 |title=Projection Methods in Chinese, Korean and Japanese Star Maps |journal=Highlights of Astronomy |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=712–715 |doi=10.1017/s1539299600018554 |doi-access=free }}</ref>]]

In [[Indian philosophy]], Maharishi [[Kanada (philosopher)|Kanada]] was the first to systematically develop a theory of atomism around 200 BCE<ref>Oliver Leaman, ''Key Concepts in Eastern Philosophy.'' Routledge, 1999, p. 269.</ref> though some authors have allotted him an earlier era in the 6th century BCE.<ref>{{harvnb|Chattopadhyaya|1986|pp=169–170}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Choudhury|2006|p=202}}</ref> It was further elaborated by the [[Buddhist atomism|Buddhist atomists]] [[Dharmakirti]] and [[Dignāga]] during the 1st millennium CE.<ref>Stcherbatsky 1962 (1930). Vol. 1. p. 19.</ref> [[Pakudha Kaccayana]], a 6th-century BCE Indian philosopher and contemporary of [[Gautama Buddha]], had also propounded ideas about the atomic constitution of the material world. The [[Vaisheshika]] school of philosophers believed that an atom was a mere point in [[space]]. It was also first to depict relations between motion and force applied. Indian theories about the atom are greatly abstract and enmeshed in philosophy as they were based on logic and not on personal experience or experimentation.

In [[Indian astronomy]], [[Aryabhata]]'s ''[[Aryabhatiya]]'' (499&nbsp;CE) proposed the [[Earth's rotation]], while [[Nilakantha Somayaji]] (1444–1544) of the [[Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics]] proposed a semi-heliocentric model resembling the [[Tychonic system]].

The study of [[magnetism]] in [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]] dates to the 4th century BCE (in the ''Book of the Devil Valley Master'').<ref>Li Shu-hua, "Origine de la Boussole 11. Aimant et Boussole", ''Isis'', Vol. 45, No. 2. (Jul., 1954), p.175</ref> A main contributor to this field was [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095), a [[polymath]] and statesman who was the first to describe the [[Compass|magnetic-needle compass]] used for navigation, as well as establishing the concept of [[true north]]. In optics, Shen Kuo independently developed a [[camera obscura]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 1 98">[[Joseph Needham]], Volume 4, Part 1, p. 98.</ref>