num_pages: 926
description: 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.
language: English
title: Science and Civilisation in China: Vol 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth
titlecomplete: Science and Civilisation in China: Vol 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth
genres: History, Nonfiction, China
ratings_count: 18
series: Science and Civilisation in China
publisher: Cambridge University Press