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Gunpowder was invented in China sometime during the first millennium AD. [2] The earliest possible reference to gunpowder appeared in 142 AD during the Eastern Han dynasty when the alchemist Wei Boyang, also known as the "father of alchemy", [3] wrote about a substance with gunpowder-like properties. [4]
Gunpowder was invented in the 9th century by Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of immortality. [19] By the time the Song dynasty treatise, Wujing Zongyao (武经总要), was written by Zeng Gongliang and Yang Weide in 1044, the various Chinese formulas for gunpowder held levels of nitrate in the range of 27% to 50%. [20]
This is a timeline of the history of gunpowder and related topics such as weapons, warfare, and industrial applications. The timeline covers the history of gunpowder from the first hints of its origin as a Taoist alchemical product in China until its replacement by smokeless powder in the late 19th century (from 1884 to the present day).
The Chinese astronomer Geng Shouchang of the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) invented it separately in China in 52 BC, and the Han dynasty polymath Zhang Heng (78–139 AD) was the first to apply motive power using a set of complex gears rotated by a waterwheel which was powered by the constant pressure head of an inflow clepsydra clock, the ...
Gunpowder was discovered in China sometime during the first millennium AD. [17] The very earliest possible reference to gunpowder appeared in 142 AD during the Eastern Han dynasty when the alchemist Wei Boyang wrote about a substance with the properties of gunpowder.
Wei Boyang (traditional Chinese: 魏伯陽; simplified Chinese: 魏伯阳; pinyin: Wèi bóyáng) was a Chinese writer and Taoist alchemist of the Eastern Han dynasty.He is the author of The Kinship of the Three (also known as Cantong Qi), and is noted as the first person to have documented the chemical composition of gunpowder in 142 AD.
The Han dynasty [a] was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring interregnum known as the Chu–Han Contention (206–202 BC), and it was succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD).
A kneeling crossbowman from the Terracotta Army assembled for the tomb complex of Qin Shi Huang (r. 221–210 BC) Ceramic statues of infantry and cavalry, from the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) A suit of bronze scale mail armor from the Han dynasty. In 221 BC, the Qin unified China and ushered in the Imperial Era of Chinese history.