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Technology during the Tang period was built also upon the precedents of the past. The mechanical gear systems of Zhang Heng (78–139) and Ma Jun (fl. 3rd century) gave the Tang engineer, astronomer, and monk Yi Xing (683–727) inspiration when he invented the world's first clockwork escapement mechanism in 725. [22]
The Song dynasty (Chinese: 宋朝; 960–1279 CE) witnessed many substantial scientific and technological advances in Chinese history. Some of these advances and innovations were the products of talented statesmen and scholar-officials drafted by the government through imperial examinations. Shen Kuo (1031–1095), author of the Dream Pool ...
During the early Song dynasty, a spherical compass with a small needle made of magnetic steel was created after steady development. The little needle has one end pointing south and the other pointing north. During the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), the compass was brought to the Arab world and Europe.
The Four Great Inventions, the compass, gunpowder, papermaking, and printing – were among the most important technological advances, only known to Europe by the end of the Middle Ages 1000 years later. The Tang dynasty (AD 618–906) in particular was a time of great innovation. [citation needed]
The magnetic compass was first invented as a device for divination as early as the Chinese Han dynasty and Tang dynasty (since about 206 BC). [ 1 ] [ 3 ] [ 34 ] The compass was used in Song dynasty China by the military for navigational orienteering by 1040–44, [ 22 ] [ 35 ] [ 36 ] and was used for maritime navigation by 1111 to 1117.
Earliest known written formula for gunpowder, from the Wujing Zongyao of 1044 AD.. Gunpowder is the first explosive to have been developed. Popularly listed as one of the "Four Great Inventions" of China, it was invented during the late Tang dynasty (9th century) while the earliest recorded chemical formula for gunpowder dates to the Song dynasty (11th century).
Usage of the blast and cupola furnace remained widespread during the Song and Tang dynasties. [43] By the 11th century, the Song dynasty Chinese iron industry made a switch of resources from charcoal to coke in casting iron and steel, sparing thousands of acres of woodland from felling. This may have happened as early as the 4th century AD.
The Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty ran the "School of Computations". [31] Wang Xiaotong was a great mathematician in the beginning of the Tang dynasty, and he wrote a book: Jigu Suanjing (Continuation of Ancient Mathematics), where numerical solutions which general cubic equations appear for the first time. [32]