Bricks n balls 78
Īt age 23, Zhang returned home with the title "Officer of Merit in Nanyang", serving as the master of documents under the administration of Governor Bao De (in office from 103 to 111). Government authorities offered Zhang appointments to several offices, including a position as one of the Imperial Secretaries, yet he acted modestly and declined. After studying for some years at Luoyang's Taixue, he was well-versed in the classics and friends with several notable persons, including the mathematician and calligrapher Cui Yuan (78–143), the official and philosophical commentator Ma Rong (79–166), and the philosopher Wang Fu (78–163). This work, entitled " Fu on the Hot Springs" ( Wēnquán fù 溫泉賦), describes the throngs of people attending the hot springs, which later became famous as the " Huaqing Hot Springs", a favorite retreat of imperial concubine Yang Guifei during the Tang dynasty. While traveling to Luoyang, Zhang passed by a hot spring near Mount Li and dedicated one of his earliest fu poems to it.
Īn accomplished writer in his youth, Zhang left home in the year 95 to pursue his studies in the capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang. When he was ten, Zhang's father died, leaving him in the care of his mother and grandmother. His grandfather Zhang Kan ( 張堪) had been governor of a commandery and one of the leaders who supported the restoration of the Han by Emperor Guangwu (r. 25–57), following the death of the usurping Wang Mang of the Xin (AD 9–23). Zhang received many posthumous honors for his scholarship and ingenuity some modern scholars have compared his work in astronomy to that of the Greco-Roman Ptolemy (AD 86–161).Ī 2nd-century lacquer-painted scene on a basket box excavated from an Eastern-Han tomb of what was the Chinese Lelang Commandery in modern North Korea, showing famous figures from Chinese history who were paragons of filial piety: Zhang Heng became well-versed at an early age in the Chinese classics and the philosophy of China's earlier sages.īorn in the town of Xi'e in Nanyang Commandery (north of the modern Nanyang City in Henan province), Zhang Heng came from a distinguished but not very affluent family. His fu (rhapsody) and shi poetry were renowned in his time and studied and analyzed by later Chinese writers. In addition to documenting about 2,500 stars in his extensive star catalog, Zhang also posited theories about the Moon and its relationship to the Sun: specifically, he discussed the Moon's sphericity, its illumination by reflected sunlight on one side and the hidden nature of the other, and the nature of solar and lunar eclipses. He improved previous Chinese calculations for pi. He invented the world's first water-powered armillary sphere to assist astronomical observation improved the inflow water clock by adding another tank and invented the world's first seismoscope, which discerned the cardinal direction of an earthquake 500 km (310 mi) away. Zhang applied his extensive knowledge of mechanics and gears in several of his inventions.
Zhang returned home to Nanyang for a short time, before being recalled to serve in the capital once more in 138. His political rivalry with the palace eunuchs during the reign of Emperor Shun (r. 125–144) led to his decision to retire from the central court to serve as an administrator of Hejian Kingdom in present-day Hebei. His uncompromising stance on historical and calendrical issues led to his becoming a controversial figure, preventing him from rising to the status of Grand Historian. Eventually, he became Chief Astronomer, Prefect of the Majors for Official Carriages, and then Palace Attendant at the imperial court. Zhang Heng began his career as a minor civil servant in Nanyang.
Educated in the capital cities of Luoyang and Chang'an, he achieved success as an astronomer, mathematician, seismologist, hydraulic engineer, inventor, geographer, cartographer, ethnographer, artist, poet, philosopher, politician, and literary scholar. Zhang Heng ( Chinese: 張 衡 AD 78–139), formerly romanized as Chang Heng, was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman who lived during the Han dynasty. Zhang's name in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters