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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. [37]
Among the Four Great Inventions, the magnetic compass was first invented as a device for divination as early as the Chinese Han dynasty (since c. 206 BC), [1] [2] and later adopted for navigation by the Song dynasty Chinese during the 11th century. [3] [4] [5] The first usage of a compass recorded in Western Europe and the Islamic world ...
Ritchie thought they could be improved upon, and by 1860 had received a U.S. patent for the first successful and practicable liquid-filled marine compass suitable for general use, [10] [11] a development that has been described as the first major advance in compass technology in several hundred years. [12]
However, when 2,000 years ago, during the Three Kingdoms period, the Chinese inventor Ma Jun created a chariot with a built-in compass for Emperor Ming-di, it was a real wonder.
The Chinese polymath Shen Kuo (1031–1095) of the Song dynasty (960–1279) was the first to accurately describe both magnetic declination (in discerning true north) and the magnetic needle compass in his Dream Pool Essays of 1088, and the Song dynasty writer Zhu Yu (fl. 12th century) was the first to mention use of the compass specifically ...
The first mention of a compass in Europe was in 1190 AD by Alexander Neckam. He described it as a common navigational aid for sailors, so the compass must have been introduced to Europe some time earlier. Whether the knowledge came from China to Europe, or was invented separately, is not clear.
The true mariner's compass using a pivoting needle in a dry box was invented in Europe no later than 1300. [ 19 ] [ 35 ] Nautical charts called portolan charts began to appear in Italy at the end of the 13th century. [ 36 ]
They conducted several tests, but Orville made the first flight at 10:35 a.m., lasting 12 seconds and traveling 120 feet. Wilbur flew it the longest that day for 59 seconds and across 852 feet.