Wang Zhenyi

Wang Zhenyi

Wang Zhenyi (1768-1797), named Deqing, was born in Shangyuan County, Jiangning prefecture (now Nanjing). Her native place is Tianchang, Anhui Province. She is a famous female scientist in Qing Dynasty. The article "lunar eclipse explanation" written by Wang Zhenyi vividly expounds the occurrence of lunar eclipse, lunar eclipse and lunar outlook, and the depth of lunar eclipse.

She summed up the achievements of ancient Chinese mathematics and western research algorithms, and wrote the popular science books at that time, such as Pythagorean triangle solution, calendar calculation simple storage, planning calculation easy to know, Xiang Shu peep Yu, etc. She is the only one in the world who understands the concept of "the sky is round and the place is round" from the macro and micro aspects of the universe. She also made clear the formation principle of solar eclipse and lunar eclipse, and wrote the interpretation of lunar eclipse. Not only the language is straightforward, but also the picture is clear at a glance.

His works include the addition and deletion of Western planning, the revision of strategic calculation, the verification of errors, the four volumes of Xiang Shu Kan Yu, the five volumes of Shu Suan Jian Cun, and the one volume of planning Yi Zhi.

brief account of the author's life

brief introduction

Wang Zhenyi (1768-1797), whose name is Deqing, was born in Shangyuan County, Jiangning prefecture (now Nanjing). Her native place is Tianchang, Anhui Province. She is the daughter of Wang Xichen, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, and the granddaughter of Xuanhua's Prince. She is Zhan Mei's wife. At the age of sixteen or seventeen, he went to Guangdong with his father and went to visit the province. He learned riding and shooting from the Mongols, learned astrology, refined calendar and calculation, worked in poetry and literature, and learned medical science. His poems were simple and sincere.

Wang Zhenyi was born into a doctor's family in Jiangning in the 33rd year of Qianlong reign of Qing Dynasty. His grandfather, Wang Zhifu, was a magistrate of Fengcheng county and Xuanhua county. In particular, his family has a rich collection of books, which is said to have 75 cabinets. These books have a great influence on Wang Zhenyi's growth. When she was 11 years old, Wang Zhenyi went to Jilin with her grandmother to mourn for her grandfather. After living in Jilin for five years, she had the opportunity to read his rich collection of books and increased her knowledge and ability. Later, along with her grandmother and father, she went to Beijing, Shaanxi, Hubei, Guangdong, Anhui and other places to visit places of interest. She saw and heard a lot, and also came into contact with many social realities.

Wang Zhenyi was intelligent and ambitious when she was a child. In her youth, she had shown indomitable and strong character, which was different from that of ordinary women. She broke through the shackles of "a woman without talent is virtue" in feudal society. When she was a teenager, she once learned riding and shooting from the wife of a Mongolian general. According to historical records, she "crossed the horse and the halberd, and traveled as fast as flying", reaching the level of "hitting the target". For this reason, Wang Zhenyi also wrote a poem with pride: "she has also learned to shoot and review riding, and she has covered the tune of powder and Dai to pursue the splendor.". She believes that "the same person is the same mind.". It emphasizes that learning is not specially designed for men. Women's wisdom is no worse than men's. learning is also beneficial to society. She also wrote a long poem entitled "a picture of a doctor in a woman's middle school" with Hua Mulan, Xiao Qiao and so on as subjects, expressing her mind of "traveling thousands of miles and writing thousands of volumes, often imitating ambition like her husband". It was her admiration for men and desire to learn that made her a famous woman astronomer, mathematician and medical scientist in Qing Dynasty. Compared with other scientists, Wang Zhenyi is more difficult on the road of science. If she wants to engage in scientific research, she must fight against feudal superstition and feudal ethics. When she began to study astronomy, poetry and painting, a group of feudal guards laughed at her. But Wang didn't give in. She refuted it and insisted on opening up the way for science. In a poem, she wrote: "women like men who believe in the first place are not heroes." she stubbornly withstood the heavy pressure of feudal ethics and carried out scientific research indomitably. Wang Zhenyi ignored the discrimination and pressure on women in feudal society, and cried out for the fact that women had no right to receive education and no chance to learn science and culture in feudal society, which fully showed the lofty spirit of a strong woman who demanded self-respect, self-improvement, self love, self-reliance and equality.

At the age of 25, Wang Zhenyi met and married a young man named Zhan Mei. She is engaged in astronomy, mathematics, etc. He died of illness at the age of 29.

record

Hu Sijing's "ten dynasties new language external edition" contains: "Jiading Qian Daxin attached great importance to his studies, thinking that Ban Zhao was only one person after him." Zhu Zhu, a bibliophile in Nanjing, once wrote a postscript for the collection of de Feng Ting, saying: "De Qing is good at reading, and he can see everything. He is good at poetry and ancient Chinese poetry, especially at calculating the sky, and connecting the East and the West. Since ancient times, talented women such as Xie Daoyun and Zuo Fen have been able to write poems, but they have never heard of their ability to write articles. Cao has continued the history of the Han Dynasty, and Xuanwen of the Song Dynasty has been passed on to the officials of the Zhou Dynasty, but they have never heard of their ability to understand Heaven. Is it not the same as Tongguan's dipper and Qinggui's collection? " To sum up, Xiao Mu, a scholar in Tongcheng, praised Wang Zhenyi in the biography of Lady Deqing, that is, "he is both a man of culture and martial arts, a master of six arts and a master of erudition.".

work

His works include the addition and deletion of Western stratagem, the revision of stratagem, the verification of errors, the four volumes of Xiang Shu Kan Yu, the explanation of star images, the revision of stratagem, the verification of falsity, the five volumes of Shu Suan Jian Cun, and the one volume of stratagem Yi Zhi. Literary works include "poetry notes of de Feng Ting" and "collection of de Feng Ting".

Family background

Wang Zhenyi's growth is closely related to her family environment and education. Her family is from Tianchang City, Anhui Province. Her grandfather moved to Jinling (now Nanjing) and Jilin. Her grandfather, Wang Shifu, was a magistrate of Fengcheng county and Xuanhua county. In particular, her family has a rich collection of books, which is said to have 75 cabinets. These books have a great influence on Wang Zhenyi's growth. Wang Xichen, Wang Zhenyi's father, had a rough life, but he was proficient in medicine. Under his influence, Wang Zhenyi was also proficient in medicine.

However, her grandfather had the greatest influence on her growth, especially on her scientific research. Wang Zhenyi said in the article "after reading and recording the story of the first great father xingzhaigong:" Zhenyi served the first great father xingzhaigong when she was young, and he carefully trained all kinds of algorithms. He has been studying for more than ten years

Character achievement

mathematician

From her works, we can see that she is a female mathematician engaged in astronomy and calculation.

Calculation, also known as "plan", "strategy", "strategy", etc., sometimes also known as "operator", is a rod-shaped computing tool. They are usually made of bamboo or wooden sticks of the same length and thickness. They are also made of metal, jade, bone and other materials. When they are not in use, they are placed in a special arithmetic bag or operator cylinder. When they are in use, they are arranged on a special arithmetic board, felt or directly on the table. The method of calculating with "calculation" is called "calculation", which was introduced into Japan as "arithmetic". Suan Tiao originated very early in China. There is a saying in Laozi that "those who are good at counting don't need to plan". The earliest record is the Suan Jing of Sun Tzu, which was gradually replaced by abacus in Ming Dynasty.

In the early 17th century, the British mathematician Napier invented a calculation method, which was introduced to China in the late Ming Dynasty, also known as "calculation". Mei wending, Dai Zhen and other famous mathematicians in Qing Dynasty have studied it. Dai Zhen called it "strategic calculation". Wang Zhenyi was also engaged in the study of the plan introduced into China from the west, and wrote three volumes of books to introduce the western plan to the Chinese people. In her works, she supplemented and explained the western plan, making it simple and clear. The Napier method of multiplication and division introduced by Wang Zhenyi was easy for readers to understand at that time, but it was more complicated compared with the Chinese method of multiplication and division at that time. Therefore, mathematicians did not use the western method of calculation, but always used the Chinese method of calculation. Many readers regard the multiplication and division method of Chinese and foreign calculation as an antique, using the four arithmetic operations introduced from foreign countries. This kind of arithmetic began to be used in 1903, so the history of our country's use of the arithmetic in line with the world is only 100 years.

Explore the mystery of nature

The earth is a big ball. Why don't people who stand on the "edge" of the earth and in the lower hemisphere tilt and fall? This question is common sense for modern people, so there is no need to ask. However, at the end of the 18th century, although most mathematicians in our country admitted that the earth was round, they seldom considered or could not answer this question. Only Wang Zhenyi, who was just born, made a popular explanation of this problem after careful study. In the treatise on the circle of the earth, she said that all the people on the earth take the place where they live as the center. Therefore, from a distance, other places are inclined. It seems that they should all fall, but actually they don't fall. Isn't it because the heads of people everywhere are heaven and the feet are earth? That is to say, the earth where people live is in a space surrounded by the sky. For the space of the universe, the sky is everywhere on the head and the earth is everywhere at the foot. Wang Zhenyi correctly believes that in the vast universe, there is no strict distinction between upper, lower, lateral and positive. This is a very valuable understanding.

Scientific work

Wang Zhenyi has done a lot of scientific work in her short life at the age of 29. She is proficient in geography, mathematics, medicine, poetry and painting, as well as meteorology. She is really a talented young woman scientist. Her articles are "all based on truth and reason, and are not collected.". Of course, Wang Zhenyi is most accomplished in astronomy. She has written many books about her achievements in astronomy, many of which have been forgotten. What she can see now is the experience about astronomy and calendar in volumes 5, 6 and 7 of the collection of de Feng Ting in Jinling series. For example, in volume 5, there are arguments on the arrival of the precession, the rise and fall of the rising and the falling of the rising and the falling of the rising and the falling of the rising and the falling of the rising; in Volume 6, there are arguments on the circle of the earth, the earth is more than nine times the sky, the year wheel is located in the center of the earth, and the left rotation of the sun and the moon and the five stars with the sky. It is said that there are 64 volumes of her works, but now we can only read a small part.

Spiritual quality

Wang Zhen

Chinese PinYin : Wang Zhen Yi