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

About this book

After two volumes mainly introductory, Dr Needham now embarks upon his systematic study of the development of the natural sciences in China. Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and 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.

Contents

List of illustrations List of tables
List of abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Author's note

19. Mathematics
20. Astronomy
21. Meteorology
22. The Sciences of the Earth
23. Geography and cartography
24. Geology (and related sciences)
25. Seismology
26. Mineralogy

Addenda
Bibliographies
General index

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