Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth
Author | : Joseph Needham |
Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | : 1146 |
Release | : 1959 |
ISBN-10 | : 0521058015 |
ISBN-13 | : 9780521058018 |
Rating | : 4/5 (15 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: After two volumes mainly introductory, Dr Needham now embarks upon his systematic study of the development of the natural sciences in China. The Sciences of the Earth follow: geography and cartography, geology, seismology and mineralogy. Dr Needham distinguishes parallel traditions of scientific cartography and religious cosmography in East and West, discussing orbocentric wheel-maps, the origins of the rectangular grid system, sailing charts and relief maps, Chinese survey methods, and the impact of Renaissance cartography on the East. Finally-and here Dr Needham's work has no Western predecessors-there are full accounts of the Chinese contribution to geology and mineralogy.