Scientists
Zhang Heng
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Zhang Heng served the Han dynasty court as an astronomer and mathematician, cataloguing roughly 2,500 stars and building a water powered armillary sphere to track them. In 132 CE he built the first seismoscope, a bronze vessel ringed with eight dragon heads that dropped a ball toward a bronze toad to indicate the direction of a distant earthquake before any human observer felt it, and he independently narrowed the approximation of pi.
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Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account Death YearSourced to the subject's own account FieldSourced to the subject's own accountAstronomy and seismology 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
1. Zhang Heng (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead sectionQuote, Lead section
Zhang Heng (Chinese: 張衡; AD 78 – 139), courtesy name Pingzi, formerly romanized Chang Heng, was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman who lived during the Eastern Han dynasty.
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