Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth

Needham Joseph. Science and Civilisation in China Vol. 3 Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and Earth 1959 [pdf 1000sc 886c. 112.71mb] After two volumes mainly introductory, Dr Needham now embarks upon his systematic study of the development of the natural sciences in China. The Sciences of the Earth follow: geography and cartography, geology, seismology and mineralogy. Dr Needham distinguishes parallel traditions of scientific cartography and religious cosmography in East and West, discussing orbocentric wheel-maps, the origins of the rectangular grid system, sailing charts and relief maps, Chinese survey methods, and the impact of Renaissance cartography on the East. Finally-and here Dr Needham's work has no Western predecessors-there are full accounts of the Chinese contribution to geology and mineralogy. WITH this Section we enter upon the second half of the present work.