Chapter 40 131 The Great Inventor Zu Chongzhi

After Emperor Xiaowu of Song Dynasty ascended the throne, the Song Dynasty soon declined.During this period, Zu Chongzhi, an outstanding scientist, emerged. Zu Chongzhi's grandfather, named Zu Chang, was an official in charge of court buildings in the Song Dynasty.Zu Chongzhi grew up in such a family and read a lot of books since he was a child. Everyone praised him as a learned young man.He is particularly fond of studying mathematics, and also likes studying astronomical calendars. He often observes the movement of the sun and planets, and makes detailed records. When Emperor Xiaowu of Song Dynasty heard of his fame, he sent him to work in the "Hualin Academy", a government office specializing in academic research.He is not interested in being an official, but there, he can concentrate more on studying mathematics and astronomy.

There have been officials who studied astronomy in all dynasties in our country, and the calendar was formulated according to the results of astronomy.By the time of the Song Dynasty, the calendar had made great progress, but Zu Chongzhi thought it was not accurate enough.Based on his long-term observation results, he created a new calendar called "Daming Calendar" ("Daming" is the year name of Emperor Xiaowu of Song Dynasty).The number of days in each return year (that is, the time between two winter solstice points) determined by this calendar is only 50 seconds different from that measured by modern science; One second, it can be seen how accurate it is.

In 462 AD, Zu Chongzhi asked Emperor Xiaowu of Song Dynasty to promulgate a new calendar, and Emperor Xiaowu called his ministers to discuss.At that time, Dai Faxing, a minister favored by the emperor, came out to object, thinking that Zu Chongzhi's unauthorized change of the ancient calendar was a deviant act. Zu Chongzhi refuted Dai Faxing on the spot with the data he studied.Relying on the emperor's favor, Dai Faxing said arrogantly: "The calendar was established by the ancients, and future generations should not change it." Zu Chongzhi was not afraid at all.He said seriously: "If you have a factual basis, just argue it out. Don't scare people with empty words."

Emperor Xiaowu of Song Dynasty wanted to help Dai Faxing, so he found some people who knew the calendar to argue with Zu Chongzhi, but Zu Chongzhi refuted them one by one.But Emperor Xiaowu of Song Dynasty still refused to promulgate the new calendar.It was not until ten years after Zu Chongzhi's death that the Ming calendar he created was implemented. Although the society was very turbulent at that time, Zu Chongzhi still studied science tirelessly.His greater achievement is in mathematics.He once commented on the ancient mathematics work "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic", and wrote a book "Zhushu".His most outstanding contribution is to obtain a fairly accurate ratio of pi.After long-term arduous research, he calculated the value of pi to be between 3.1415926 and 3.1415927, becoming the first scientist in the world to calculate the value of pi to more than seven figures.

Zu Chongzhi is an all-rounder in scientific inventions. He built a compass car, and the bronze figure on the car always pointed to the south no matter how the car turned. ) on a trial voyage, and can sail more than 100 miles a day.He also used water power to turn stone mills and pound rice to grind millet, which was called "water mill". After Zu Chongzhi's death, his son Zu Wei (sound geng) and grandson Zu Hao all inherited Zu Chongzhi's career, studying mathematics and calendar assiduously.It is said that when Zu Tie was studying knowledge, he was so engrossed that he couldn't even hear the thunder from the sky.He often walks while thinking about problems.Once, when he was walking on the road, Xu Mian, a big bureaucrat, came in front of him.Zu Tie didn't notice it at all, and bumped his head against Xu Mian's body.When Xu Mian greeted him, Zu Ting hurriedly replied as if he had woken up from a dream.Xu Mian knew that he was fascinated by research, so he didn't blame him.

In Zu Chongzhi's later years, Xiao Daocheng, who controlled the Imperial Guards of the Song Dynasty, destroyed the Song Dynasty. In 479 AD, Xiao Daocheng proclaimed himself emperor and established the Southern Qi Dynasty.He is Emperor Qi Gao.