Here is a brief introduction to the top ten scientific and technological achievements of the Ming Dynasty.
I. Agronomy and agricultural management
1376, Yu Zongben completed a tree planting book, explaining how to plant trees and the instructions for planting trees.
1406, Zhu Kui (136 1-1425) completed Herbs for Disaster Relief, which is a plant atlas. Medicine for the Relief of Famine describes the morphology of plants and shows the general situation of plant classification at that time in Ming Dynasty.
153 1, planting corn.
1547, Ma Yilong (1499-157 1 year) completed "On Agriculture".
1582 introduced sweet potato.
1596, Tu Benjun completed The Dislocation of Fujian Sea, describing the morphology, living environment, habits and distribution of various aquatic animals along the coast of Fujian.
1608, Yuan Heng's "Managing Horses" was completed by Ren and Yu Jie, which is the most abundant and widely circulated veterinary work in Ming Dynasty.
16 17, Zhao Pupa Finished Products Factory.
1628, Xu Guangqi (1562-1633) completed the book of agricultural administration, summed up many experiences and technologies of ancient agricultural production in China, and cited more than 300 ancient works and documents.
Second, astronomical meteorology
Three Lights of the White Ape in14th century A.D. contains 132 cloud pictures, which are related to climate change, and most of them are in line with the principles of modern meteorology. In Europe, it was not until 1879 that 16 Zhang Yuntu appeared.
1383, Shi Jing Observatory was built in Nanjing, which was the first observatory in Ming Dynasty. 1442, an observatory was established in Beijing.
1439, Zhang Yi built the armillary sphere and put it in the capital. According to the theory of the armillary sphere, the armillary sphere is used to display the movement of celestial bodies on the celestial sphere and measure the coordinate difference between the ecliptic and the equator.
1607, Li zhizao (1565-1630) completed the constitution map of the honggaitong, which was used to introduce astronomical phenomena.
16 17 years, Zhang Xie (1574-1640) wrote "An Examination of the East and the West", which recorded the detailed information of marine occupation.
1634, the first astronomical telescope in the history of China was built. It was called telescope, which means tube (astronomical telescope looks like a tube).
1634, under the leadership of Xu Guangqi, the minister of does, completed the compilation of "Chongzhen Almanac", with 46 kinds of * * *, 137 volumes. The book adopts the calculation method of celestial system and geometry founded by Tycho, introduces Copernicus' theory, and quotes a large number of chapters in the theory of celestial motion.
Third, mathematics.
1450, Jason Wu completed the Comparison of Algorithms in Nine Chapters.
1524, Wang Wensu completed the Arithmetic Collection.
1584, Zhu Zaiyu (1536-1611year) completed the essence of Lu.
1592, Cheng Dawei (A.D. 1533-1606) completed the Arithmetic Unified Set, which is the earliest record of calculating squares and cubes with abacus.
1606, Xu Guangqi and Matteo Ricci (1552-16 10) jointly translated the Elements of Geometry.
16 13 years, Li zhizao completed "Calculating Fingers in the Same Language" according to "Introduction to Practical Arithmetic" by kravis in Europe and "Theory of Arithmetic Unity" by Cheng Dawei in China.
Fourth, medical medicine.
1390, in the Ming dynasty, Zhu, Teng Shuo and others compiled Puji Fang, which is a collection of ancient and modern medical prescriptions, including various prescriptions, notes, miscellaneous sayings, Taoist scriptures and so on. Including pulse, medicinal properties, luck, typhoid fever, miscellaneous diseases, gynecology, pediatrics, acupuncture and materia medica and so on.
1567, Taiping county, Ningguo prefecture tried the inoculation method to prevent smallpox, which was later introduced to Europe.
1596, Li Shizhen (15 18-1593) completed the compendium of materia medica, which is China's masterpiece.
160 1 year, Yang Jizhou (about 1522-1620) completed the "Masterpiece of Acupuncture", which was later edited by Jin Xian.
In 16 17, Chen Shigong (1555-1636) completed Authentic Surgery in four volumes.
1624, Zhang Jingyue (1563-1640) completed Jing Lei, which is another comprehensive study of Neijing after Yang Shangshan's Tai Su in the Sui Dynasty.
164 1 year, Wu Youxing (1582-1652) completed the theory of plague, also known as the theory of epidemic fever, which is the first medical work to study acute infectious diseases in China.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) physics
1637, Song (1587-1666) completed China's ancient comprehensive science and technology masterpiece Tiangong. "Heavenly Creations" has made a modern theory on the generation and propagation of sound, which holds that sound is generated by the rapid movement of air or the vibration of objects, and sound is propagated through air.
Fang Yizhi (16 1 1 year-1year) put forward in the second volume of Physical Notes: "When the universe (time) is in space, there is a universe in the universe, and there is a universe in the universe." The time-space view that time and space cannot exist independently of each other is put forward. Physical Tips 1 gives a correct explanation of atmospheric refraction.
Sun Qiu Yun (1628-1662), a manufacturer of folk optical instruments, made dozens of optical instruments such as magnifying glasses and microscopes, and wrote The History of Mirrors (lost).
VI. Geography and Technology
1405- 143 1 year, Zheng He (about 137 1 year-about 1433) led a huge ocean-going fleet to more than 30 western countries. Zheng He's nautical chart was compiled in 1425, originally published in Military Preparation by Mao Ming and Yuan Yi (Volume 240).
1536, Huang zhong completed the sea.
1565, Hu Zongxian (15 12-1565) completed the compilation of Nautical Chart, which mainly recorded the maritime traffic between China and Japan and the anti-Japanese history of South Korea.
1602, Matteo Ricci drew a great geographical map of the world, including Europa, Levia (Africa), South Asia and North Asia, Meliga and Movaranica (Antarctica and Australia). This map was widely used in geography works in the late Ming Dynasty.
1639, Gu (16 13-1682) began to write. During this year, he began to search for a large number of historical records, records and other materials.
1640, Xu Xiake (1587-164 1) completed the Travels of Xu Xiake, and recorded the geography and other materials he visited.
Seven. Chemistry and chemical industry
152 1 year, Sichuan jiazhou (now Leshan) was drilled into an oil well hundreds of meters deep.
1596, thermal recovery technology was invented in Ming dynasty.
1596, Li Shizhen recorded the chemical properties of about 276 kinds of inorganic drugs and the science and technology of distillation, evaporation and sublimation in Compendium of Materia Medica.
1637, Wu Kai in Tiangong regarded lead, copper, mercury, sulfur and other elements as basic substances, and regarded the substances they produced as biomass, resulting in the concept similar to modern chemical elements.
Fang Yizhi recorded the method of smelting coke in the seventh volume of Physics Essentials: "Coal is produced everywhere. Those that stink, burn them off. Turn it into stone and then cut it into a melting pot, which is called a reef. " 177 1 Europe just started coking.
Eight, weapons
1372, made of spears. Compared with hand spears, spears are heavier, larger in shape and caliber, so they must be shot on the wooden frame.
1377 made a spear, which is light in shape and small in diameter ratio, and can be held with a wooden handle, similar to a pistol.
1453, made of bronze, is the earliest metal tube-shaped firearm in the world.
1524 French machine gun, originally imported from Europe and Portugal, is an early afterloading smoothbore gun.
1549 made an underwater mine, which is the earliest mine in the world. Underwater mines are made of wooden cases, with putty stuck at the joints, and iron anchors connected with ropes below to control the depth, and then the firing is controlled by hands. Compared with the manufacture and use of mines in Europe, it is more than 200 years earlier. During the Anti-Japanese War and Aid Korea, the Ming navy sank a large Japanese warship with underwater mines in one fell swoop, which achieved actual combat effect for the first time in world history, nearly three centuries earlier than the mine warfare in the Russo-Japanese War.
1558 the bird's nest, which is better than the west, is a firearm fired with a matchrope as an ignition device.
1580 Qi Jiguang (1528-1588) homemade steel wheel fire, similar to a mine.
1590 made the underwater dragon king gun, which is the earliest underwater timed explosive in the world. The underwater dragon king gun takes the bullwhip as the thunder shell, contains black powder, and uses incense as the fuse to detonate the mine regularly according to the burning time.
1598, Zhao Shizhen (about1553-1611) compiled the Artifact Book, which recorded all kinds of weapons used by the army in the late Ming Dynasty and showed the advanced level of firearms manufacturing in the Ming Dynasty.
162 1 year, Mao (1594-1640) published the book Wu Bei Zhi, which consists of five parts: military tactical evaluation, strategic examination, formation training system, military capital multiplication and occupation. This book was banned during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty.
1637, made a river-mixing dragon, which caused an explosion in direct contact with the ship.
The manufacture of armored mines is the earliest armored mines caused by steel wheels pressing fire in the world. Iron-shell mines were widely equipped by the Ming army and used many times in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, causing heavy losses to the enemy. Europe did not have similar weapons until after the18th century.
Wing Tiger Spear: Three-tube cavalry spear, which is convenient to lie on the road. Because it is short, it can be hidden and released more. If you are in a hurry, you can use it as a shield to fight, and you can kill the enemy and defend yourself.
It is a crouching tiger gun, 2 feet long, and its head is set up by two iron claws, which looks like a crouching tiger. Before firing, you need to fill hundreds of lead bullets or stones with a weight of 5, and then use a large lead bullet or stone with a weight of 30 to top it. When launching, the big and small bullets fly out together, and the lethality is amazing. Artillery is light in weight and small in size, which is especially suitable for cavalry to pack horses directly, thus giving birth to the Ming army riding artillery, which is also the first gun in world history, leading Europe for about 200 years.
Three-masted gunboat: imitation of a Dutch warship, huge in size, the main force of the navy, tall, with its head up and tail up, sailing fast and not afraid of wind and waves. This tree has three masts, the main mast is 4 feet high, the captain is 20 feet high, and the cabin has five floors. The deck of the ship is set as high as a city and can accommodate 300 people. It is equipped with eight red cannons and a 40,000-pound French machine.
1643, a flowering gun with a diameter of 305 mm was cast, which was called General Lu Bao's gun. This kind of gun is used to equip the Ming navy's three-masted warships and then fire. More than 200 years earlier than the famous British Armstrong naval gun.
Nine, shipbuilding and navigation technology
The early Ming dynasty inherited the scientific and technological advantages of Song and Yuan Dynasties, and the shipbuilding technology was second to none. The ships built in the Ming Dynasty were well designed and fully equipped. The largest ship can be about 65,438+047 meters long and 60 meters wide, and can accommodate 65,438+0,000 crew members, and the largest ship can have 9 masts. Compared with a few decades later, the captain of Columbus's "Discovery of the New World" was about 30 meters. By comparing the four masts, we can see the advanced degree of science and technology in the early Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty was called the age of China navigators. In the early Ming Dynasty, China's navigation technology continued to maintain the advanced level in the world.
X. metal technology
Metallurgical technology is in the leading position in the world. In mining, the Ming dynasty adopted the "hot" method. In the Ming Dynasty, the coking method was invented, the blast equipment was improved, the temperature of the smelting furnace was increased, and the furnace was larger, thus greatly improving the quality and output of metallurgical production.
? Although China's ancient science and technology are developed, they are mostly practical, lacking the rigorous theoretical logic of western classical science, which is the shortcoming of China's ancient science itself. The Ming Dynasty was the peak of China's ancient science and technology, and then the Qing Dynasty entered the last flourishing age in Kanggan by the afterglow of the sunset, and finally declined and perished in the internal and external troubles.