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

Download or read book Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth written by Joseph Needham and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1959 with total page 1146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.