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Shen Kuo noted that the process was tedious if one only wanted to print a few copies of a book, but if one desired to make hundreds or thousands of copies, the process was incredibly fast and efficient. [116] Beyond Shen Kuo's writing, however, nothing is known of Bi Sheng's life or the influence of movable type in his lifetime. [118]
Geomorphology: In his Dream Pool Essays of 1088, Shen Kuo (1031–1095) wrote about a landslide (near modern Yan'an) where petrified bamboos were discovered in a preserved state underground, in the dry northern climate zone of Shanbei, Shaanxi; Shen reasoned that since bamboo was known only to grow in damp and humid conditions, the climate of ...
Even before Shen Kuo and Zhu Yu had described the mariner's magnetic needle compass, the earlier military treatise of the Wujing Zongyao in 1044 had also described a thermoremanence compass. [77] This was a simple iron or steel needle that was heated, cooled, and placed in a bowl of water, producing the effect of weak magnetization, although ...
Shen Kuo's written work of 1088 also contains the first written description of the magnetic needle compass, the first description in China of experiments with camera obscura, the invention of movable type printing by the artisan Bi Sheng (990–1051), a method of repeated forging of cast iron under a cold blast similar to the modern Bessemer ...
Shen Kuo was a renowned government official and military general during the Northern Song period of China. However, he was impeached from office by chancellor Cai Que (蔡確; 1036–1093), who wrongly held him responsible for a Song Chinese military defeat by the Tangut-led Western Xia dynasty in 1081 during the Song–Xia wars. [6]
In his Dream Pool Essays of 1088 CE, Shen related a conversation he had with the director of the Astronomical Observatory, who had asked Shen if the shapes of the Sun and the Moon were round like balls or flat like fans. Shen Kuo explained his reasoning for the former: If they were like balls they would surely obstruct each other when they met.
Date: Person: Contribution: 1088: Shen Kuo: First person to write of the magnetic needle compass and that it improved the accuracy of navigation by helping to employ the astronomical concept of True North at all times of the day, thus making the first, recorded, scientific observation of the magnetic field (as opposed to a theory grounded in superstition or mysticism).
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