Chinese Seismoscope (replica)
notes: label: Description
content: Zhang Heng (b. 78 – d. 139) was a Chinese scientist and statesman whose many accomplishments included the invention of an instrument that indicated the occurrence of earthquakes and the directions from which they came. The rise of the science of seismology in the late nineteenth century led to a renewed interest in Zhang’s work, and replications of his seismoscope.
label: Description
content: Zhang’s original instrument was large (perhaps 2 meters in diameter), and complex (with eight dragons at top, each with a frog below). When a seism occurred, a small ball would drop from the mouth of one of the dragons into the open mouth of the corresponding frog. Our replica—a simplified version with just two dragons and two frogs—is based on a reconstruction done in connection with what is now the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo.
label: Description
content: Ref: Toshio Asanuma and Iwao Sensui, “Ancient Chinese Seismoscope Made by Chang Heng,” <i>Natural Science and Museums</i> (1960): 13-19.
label: Description
content: Ref: André Wegener Sleeswyk and Nathan Sivin, “Dragons and Toads: The Chinese Seismoscope of A.D. 132,” <i>Chinese Science</i> 6 (Nov. 1983): 1-19.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.321329
label: accession number
content: 243714
label: catalog number
content: 321329
objectType: label: Object Name
content: seismoscope, Chinese (replica)