Makers › Scientist

Guo Shoujing

Yuan astronomer and hydraulic engineer who designed the instruments and observations behind the Shoushi calendar and cut the Tonghui canal into the capital Dadu

Also known as Zi Ruosi · Shun De · Zhao Wen Guan Da Xue Shi · Zhi Tai Shi Yuan Shi

Guo Shoujing, courtesy name Ruosi, came from Xingtai in Shunde; his grandfather, versed in mathematics and water control, sent him to study under Liu Bingzhong. Recommended by Zhang Wenqian in 1262, he laid six irrigation and canal proposals before Khubilai and was put in charge of the empire's waterways. When the court set out to reform the calendar in 1276 he and Wang Xun divided the work of observation and computation; he built more than a dozen instruments, among them the simplified armillary and the tall gnomon, and sent observers to twenty-seven stations from Goryeo to Hainan to measure the sun's shadow. The new system, named the Shoushi calendar, was issued in 1280. In 1291 he proposed bringing the Baifu spring water through Wengshan Lake into Dadu as a grain canal; finished in 1293, it was named the Tonghui River by Khubilai. He died in 1316 at eighty-six. Emperor Chengzong, after a flood Guo had warned of, called him a divine man.

Life and times

  1. 1231 CEBornSongYuan
  2. 1280Promulgation of Shoushi CalendarTook partage 49Guo Shoujing, Wang Xun, Xu Heng, and their collaborators compiled the Shoushi calendar using observations gathered across an unusually broad network of sites.
    1. Guo Shoujing Creates the Dengfeng Observatory1276age 45In 1276 Guo Shoujing created the Dengfeng Observatory; it is a surviving Yuan astronomical structure, while broader measurement evaluations are outside this record.
    2. Guo Shoujing Compiling Shoushi CalendarAstronomer Guo Shoujing calculated the tropical year at 365.2425 days, promulgating the Shoushi Calendar.
  3. 1293Yuan Grand Canal IntegrationTook partage 62Straightening the direct waterway from Dadu to Hangzhou, formalizing the enduring Jing-Hang Grand Canal.
    1. Guo Shoujing Opens the Tonghui Riverc. 1292age 61From 1292 to 1293, Guo Shoujing directed the Baifu-spring diversion and Tonghui River works, allowing grain boats to sail from Tongzhou into Dadu's Jishuitan.
  4. 1316 CEDied

Connections

  1. Teachers and students1
    1. Liu BingzhongTeacher · 1216 CE–1274 CE
  2. Interactions1
    1. Xu HengIntellectual: Worked together on the Shoushi calendar · 1209 CE–1281 CEPromulgation of Shoushi Calendar
  3. Rulers and officials1
    1. Kublai KhanSovereign · 1215 CE–1294 CE
  4. Others1
    1. Wang XunFellow calendar reformer · 1235 CE–1281 CE