![]() ![]() One of the oldest longstanding contributions of the ancient Chinese are in Traditional Chinese medicine, including acupuncture and herbal medicine, derived from Daoist philosophy. Early Scientific and Technological Achievements ![]() Much of the early Western work in the history of science in China was done by Joseph Needham. The Jesuit China missions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries introduced Western science and astronomy, then undergoing its own revolution, to China, and knowledge of Chinese technology was brought to Europe. ![]() ![]() A good deal of exchange occurred between Western and Chinese discoveries up to the Qing Dynasty. The Tang dynasty (618 – 906 C.E.) in particular was a time of great innovation. The four Great Inventions of ancient China: the compass, gunpowder, paper making, and printing, were among the most important technological advances, only known in Europe by the end of the Middle Ages. Traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture and herbal medicine were also practiced.Īmong the earliest inventions were the abacus, the “shadow clock,” and the first flying machines such as kites and Kongming lanterns. The first recorded observations of comets, solar eclipses, and supernovae were made in China. In antiquity, independent of Greek philosophers and other civilizations, ancient Chinese philosophers made significant advances in science, technology, mathematics, and astronomy. The history of science and technology in China is both long and rich with science and technological contribution. The abacus has now been largely superseded by the electronic calculator.A method of making astronomical observation instruments at the time of Qing Dynasty / Wikimedia CommonsĪmong the earliest inventions were the abacus, the “shadow clock,” and the first flying machines. Special forms of abacus were made for the blind, both in Japan and in the US. Some Asian-Americans also used abaci in commerce. American travelers also acquired them as souvenirs of trips abroad. Universities and museums also acquired abaci for their exhibitions. Some of these presents made their way into the Smithsonian collections. In the nineteenth and twentieth century, Asian government officials and scholars who visited the United States sometimes brought abaci as gifts. Examples of counters made in Germany in the seventeenth century are in the Smithsonian’s National Numismatics Collections. The term “counter” eventually came to refer not only to an object used in calculations but also to the place in a store where transactions are carried out. In Medieval and Renaissance Europe, merchants commonly did calculating by moving wooden or metal counters along lines drawn on a wooden table known as counting board, a counter-board, or a reckoning-board. The abacus has taken many forms over the centuries. Our modern terms “calculate” and “calculus” come from the term calculi, while the word “abacus” comes from a Greek word meaning a board or slab, or a calculating table. Small stones known as calculi, from the Greek khalix, pebble, were moved along lines drawn in stone or sand. The instrument may have originated in the Middle East before the time of Christ. The abacus is a computing device on which arithmetic calculations are performed by sliding counters (beads, pebbles, or flat discs) along rods, wires or lines. Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, African Art. ![]()
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