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Luoxia Hong
Astronomer from Langzhong in Ba commandery who did the calculations for Emperor Wu's Taichu calendar reform and, according to Yang Xiong, built an armillary sphere
On an observatory terrace at night, a large bronze armillary sphere stands on a stone base while two people stand with their backs turned facing the view; stars are joined into constellation lines overhead, and a sundial and tiered dripping water vessels stand at the right.
Also known as Zi Changgong
- Roles
- Scientist
Luoxia Hong, courtesy name Changgong, came from Langzhong in Ba commandery and was learned in astronomy. According to the treatise on harmonics and calendars in the History of the Han (Hanshu), when Emperor Wu ordered a new calendar in 104 BC, more than twenty officials and private experts were chosen, among them the adept Tang Du and Luoxia Hong; Tang divided the sky into sectors while Luoxia did the calculations, and the system finally adopted, Deng Ping's eighty-one-part calendar, was proclaimed with the new era name Taichu. A Sichuan biography quoted in a Tang commentary on the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) says he observed with a rotating armillary sphere and declined the post of palace attendant offered him afterward. Yang Xiong's Model Sayings (Fayan) names him as the man who first built the armillary sphere. In 2004 the minor planet 16757 was named after him.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; helped devise the Taichu calendar in 104 BCE