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Dai Jinxian
German Jesuit astronomer who reached China in 1717, served the Qing Astronomical Bureau for nearly thirty years as its director and led work on the Lixiang kaocheng houbian
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 Jiabin · Ignaz Koegler
Dai Jinxian, born Ignaz Kogler in Bavaria, was a Jesuit trained in astronomy and mathematics. He reached China in 1717, joined the Astronomical Bureau and rose to be its director, receiving the rank of vice-minister of rites in 1731; he served the court for twenty-nine years. With Andre Pereira and others he compiled the Lixiang kaocheng houbian, which brought Kepler's elliptical orbits into Qing calendar computation. In 1744 he and the bureau designed a new armillary sphere, cast in 1754 as the Jiheng Fuchen Yi that still stands at the Beijing Ancient Observatory. He died in Beijing in 1746.
Life and times
Dates 1680 CE–1746 CE