Guo Shoujing
| Guo Shoujing | |
|---|---|
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| Native name | 郭守敬 |
| Born | 1231 Xingtai, Hebei province |
| Died | 1314 or 1316 |
| Fields | Astronomy, hydraulic engineering |
| Institutions | Gaocheng Astronomical Observatory |
| Known for | Shòushí Calendar (授时曆; "Season-Granting Calendar") |
| Guo Shoujing | |||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 郭守敬 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Guō Shǒujìng |
| Wade–Giles | Kuo1 Shou3-ching4 |
| IPA | [kwó ʂòutɕîŋ] |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | Gwok Sáu-ging |
| Southern Min | |
| Tâi-lô | Kueh Tsiú-kìng (col.) Kok Siú-kìng (lit.) |
Guo Shoujing (Chinese: 郭守敬, 1231–1316), courtesy name Ruosi (若思), was a Chinese astronomer,engineer, and mathematician born in Xingtai, Hebei who lived during the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368). The later Johann Adam Schall von Bell (1591–1666) was so impressed with the preserved astronomical instruments of Guo that he called him "the Tycho Brahe of China."Jamal ad-Din (astronomer) cooperated with him.
In 1231, in Xingtai, Hebei province, China, Guo Shoujing was born into a poor family. He was raised primarily by his paternal grandfather, Guo Yong, who was famous throughout China for his expertise in a wide variety of topics, ranging from the study of the Five Classics to astronomy, mathematics, and hydraulics. Guo Shoujing was a child prodigy, showing exceptional promise. By his teens, he obtained a blueprint for a water clock which his grandfather was working on, and realized its principles of operation. He improved the design of a type of water clock called a lotus clepsydra, a water clock with a bowl shaped like a lotus flower on the top into which the water dripped. After he had mastered the construction of such water clocks, he began to study mathematics at the age of 16. From mathematics, he began to understand hydraulics, as well as astronomy.
At 20, Guo became a hydraulic engineer. In 1251, as a government official, he helped repair a bridge over the Dahuoquan River. In the late 1250s, Kublai Khan became the Khan and ruler of most of China, which was under Mongol rule. Kublai Khan realized the importance of hydraulic engineering, irrigation, and water transport, which he believed could help alleviate uprisings within the empire, and sent Liu Bingzhong and his student Guo to look at these aspects in the area between Dadu (now Beijing or Peking) and the Yellow River. To provide Dadu with a new supply of water, Guo had a 30 km channel built to bring water from the Baifu spring in the Shenshan Mountain to Dadu, which required connecting the water supply across different river basins, canals with sluices to control the water level. The Grand Canal, which linked the river systems of the Yangtze, the Huai, and the Huang since the early 7th century, was repaired and extended to Dadu in 1292–93 with the use of corvée (unpaid labor). After the success of this project, Kublai Khan sent Guo off to manage similar projects in other parts of the empire. He became the chief advisor of hydraulics, mathematics, and astronomy for Kublai Khan.
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