Magnetic Declination in Mediaeval China

Other

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

4

Scientific paper

THE traditional view that Christopher Columbus discovered magnetic declination on his first voyage to the West Indies in 1492 was put forward with great force by Bertelli1 towards the end of the last century and has been repeated by many since. On the other hand, Crichton Mitchell2, after having examined the evidence on which this claim was based, concluded that not only did Columbus not discover magnetic declination but that the existence of declination was known in Europe as early as 1450. In the past few decades, however, .the Columbus controversy has become irrelevant with the researches of Wang Chen-To3 and Needham4, who have shown that the credit for the discovery of declination must go to the Chinese. Needham, in particular, has tabulated eighteen recorded Chinese compass observations of declination covering the period about 720-1829. These are of interest not only to historians but also to geophysicists, for they represent the earliest recorded direct observations of the Earth's magnetic field. The question of their validity is therefore of great importance.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Magnetic Declination in Mediaeval China does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Magnetic Declination in Mediaeval China, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Magnetic Declination in Mediaeval China will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1504019

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.