Heavenly Clockwork: The Great Astronomical Clocks of Medieval China

by Joseph Needham, Ling Wang, Derek J. De Solla Price

A reissue with a foreword and supplement, of a modern classic published in 1960. The invention of the mechanical clock was one of the most important turning points in the history of science and technology. This study revealed six centuries of mechanical clockwork preceding the first mechanical escapement clocks of the West of about AD 1300. Detailed and fully illustrated accounts of elaborate Chinese clocks are accompanied by a discussion of the social context of the Chinese inventions and an assessment of their possible transmission to medieval Europe. For this revised edition, Dr Joseph Needham has contributed a new foreword on recent research and perceptions. In a supplement John H. Combridge details a modern reconstruction of Su Sung's timekeeping device, which together with textual studies modifies our understanding of this important early technology.

Genres: History, China

324 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 1986

About the author

Joseph Needham was a British biochemist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941, and a fellow of the British Academy in 1971. In 1992, Queen Elizabeth II conferred on him the Companionship of Honour, and the Royal Society noted he was the only living person to hold these three titles.

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fancy water powered clocks were popular in the middle east and China. In China's case these were kept close to to the Imperial courts and when these fell to rebels or invaders all of the books, drawings and skilled laborers were lost. Thus when the Northern Song dynasty fell, the following Southern Song had troubles keeping their clocks going.

I recommend this to horology and and early tech fans. Its a bit too academic for the general public, plus for the older folk, there's a ton of footnotes using tiny fonts.

[Shannon Hong · Rating 3 out of 5]

dry. but it's supposed to be.

the prof asked us to derive "China" from this book — what is China, where is China, why is China. the answer: in the book. i suppose...