Zhang Heng served the Han dynasty court as an astronomer and mathematician, cataloguing roughly 2,500 stars and building a water powered armillary sphere to track them. In 132 CE he built the first seismoscope, a bronze vessel ringed with eight dragon heads that dropped a ball toward a bronze toad to indicate the direction of a distant earthquake before any human observer felt it, and he independently narrowed the approximation of pi.
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Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account Death YearSourced to the subject's own account FieldSourced to the subject's own accountAstronomy and seismology 1 Death PlaceLuoyang, People's Republic of China 2 BirthplaceNanyang, People's Republic of China 2 Field
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Source Zhang Heng (Wikipedia)
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1. Zhang Heng (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section
Zhang Heng (Chinese: 張衡; AD 78-139), courtesy name Pingzi, formerly romanized Chang Heng, was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman who lived during the Eastern Han dynasty.
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His uncompromising stance on historical and calendrical issues led to his becoming a controversial figure, preventing him from rising to the status of Grand Historian.
View the Source 2. Zhang Heng (Wikidata)
P27 (country of citizenship): Eastern Han
Q1147037
P20 (place of death): Luoyang, People's Republic of China
Q187136
P19 (place of birth): Nanyang, People's Republic of China
Q404763
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