In the promotional video about the nomination of the 2019 "Inspiring Science and Innovative Scientific Research Award", the internationally renowned Nature website featured a Female Chinese Qing Dynasty Scientist named "Wang Zhenyi" as the "predecessor" representative of the current female scientists.
Spit on Nature's video production: casually found an unrelated Picture of a Chinese painting lady, and swallowed the word "Who says that children are not heroes" in the copywriting verse ...
In Nature's introduction, Wang Zhenyi is an all-rounder who is proficient in astronomy, mathematics, geography, medicine and poetry.
In fact, as early as 1994, the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) Planetary Systems Naming Working Group named the newly discovered crater on Venus after "Wang Zhenyi." Her time in the international scientific community, and her influence, are far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
Thanks to the recent broadcast of the third season of "National Treasure", more Chinese people know Wang Zhenyi and his people
In the thirty-third year of the Qianlong Dynasty (1768), Wang Zhenyi was born in a family in Jiangsu Province.
Her grandfather, Wang Zhifu, was an assistant official to the prefect, and as a parent official, he was "a clean official, loved the people like a son, and a family like a family". His father, Wang Xichen, was an official in the county, and because of the repeated disappointments of the imperial examination, he turned to medicine and became a famous doctor.
Growing up in such a Confucian family, Wang Zhenyi was fortunate to receive a very good education since childhood. However, during the period of ancient Chinese feudal society, such a family learning environment was still not enough to create a female scientist who was well-educated. If it were not for a series of subsequent encounters, Wang Zhenyi would probably have become a girly role like Lin Daiyu in "Dream of the Red Chamber".
Statue of Wang Zhenyi Contemporary Chinese painter Mr. Peng Lianxi in 1996
In 1779, Wang Zhifu, who had been relegated to Jilin for outspokenness, died in the northeast, leaving the eleven-year-old Wang Zhenyi with a full seventy-five cabinets of books. There are not only rich literary works, but also books from Zu Chongzhi, Zeng Yixing, Guo Shoujing and other "science giants".
In fact, this is also closely related to Wang's own research interests - he has a certain degree of achievement in calendar and mathematics, and has participated in the compilation and revision of the Qing Dynasty mathematics book "Mei's Series". Coupled with Wang Zhenyi's father's later "abandonment of literature and medical practice", it can be seen that the Wang family itself has a strong scientific research and academic atmosphere.
In the face of the teachings of her grandfather and father, Wang Zhenyi really did not disappoint them. With a large collection of books left by her grandfather, she "spent all day and night in the heart", and once wrote "How poor is the study of life, when you know the treasure of yin and yin." What is difficult is in practice, what is still being heard" self-proverb poem inspires itself.
Therefore, if you want to succeed in learning, you need not only the blessing of the family environment, but also the efforts of individuals.
Mei Wending, an almanac, mathematician and astronomer in the early Qing Dynasty, and the Mei's Series of Books were summarized by later generations based on his academic achievements
Five years after my grandfather's death, Wang Zhenyi's book was almost finished. At the age of sixteen, she returned to her hometown in Jiangsu from the northeast with her parents, and then followed her father and grandmother to practice medicine.
From the northeast to Jiangsu, then from Nanjing to Beijing, and then to Shaanxi, Hunan, and even to the eastern part of Guangdong. For more than two years, she "went east to the land of mountains and seas, traveled west to the place where the collision was encountered, and then traveled through Wu, Chu, Yan, Yue and other places, traveling no less than tens of thousands of miles."
The first half of her life was a perfect interpretation of the ancient adage of "reading thousands of books, walking thousands of miles". This rare experience of reading the beauty of mountains and rivers and the customs and customs of various places allowed Wang Zhenyi to completely break the thinking limitations of ordinary boudoir women limited to the personal feelings of sad spring and sad autumn.
She heroically wrote poems such as "Ten Thousand Books, Taste Ambition to Overcome Husbands", and "First Letters and Eyebrows, Who Says That Children Are Not Heroes". It can be said that it is "the most hardcore female equal rights representative of the Qing Dynasty".
Wang Zhenyi in the 2018 Foreign Women's Theme Monthly Calendar
After reading ten thousand books and walking thousands of miles, 18-year-old Wang Zhenyi returned to Nanjing to settle down.
At this age, in ancient times, it was already going to be madly urged to marry. Although there is no written record, it is not difficult to speculate that Wang Zhenyi's family should not have put too much pressure on her. Even if there is, this young girl who has already put her knowledge, pattern, and even the value of force on it is estimated that she will not yield.
——Forgot to say, Wang Zhenyi lived in Jilin for 5 years, while studying the collection of books left by her grandfather, she also learned riding archery and martial arts from a local Mongolian military lady. It has even reached the point of "crossing the horse, going back and forth like a fly... The realm of "hair must be in the middle."
So when she returned to Nanjing, she freely began her own scientific research and exploration.
It started with her grandfather teaching her math since she was a child. From the thirteen volumes of Wang Zhenyi's surviving "Defengting First Collection", we can see that her research involves trigonometric functions and the Pythagorean theorem, as well as the "Mei's arithmetic" that was prevalent at that time.
Her Pythagorean Trigonometry takes up an entire chapter of her "anthology" and details the then-obscure trigonometric formulas that came from the West. Knowing what is natural and why it is, knowledge can be better disseminated, and these studies are of great significance to the development of Chinese arithmetic.
Wang Zhenyi was deeply aware of this, so she not only tried to explain "Western Studies", but also simplified and re-compiled the work after in-depth study of "Mei's Arithmetic", which was highly respected by her grandfather.
She summarized Mei Wending's "Almanac" into "Simple Calculation of Almanac"; and adapted Mei Wending's "Calculation Original" into "Calculation is Easy to Know". Unfortunately, both books, totaling 7 volumes, have been lost.
Only the preface written by Wang Zhenyi in the "First Collection of Defeng Pavilion" is left, complaining about the subtlety and cumbersome statement of arithmetic in Mr. Mei Lao's book, and stating the purpose of his re-editing - simplification for future generations to learn.
Mr. Mei Wending's "Almanac" book shadow
The sharp-eyed reader may have noticed something strange in the image above: eclipse? lunar eclipse? How can good mathematics go to heaven?
In fact, almost all mathematics in ancient China was applied mathematics. Therefore, ancient mathematics is closely related to the calculation of lunar integrity, the observation of astronomical astrological signs, and even the production of ritual instruments. Mathematics is both used to measure these things, and its practical effects in turn to support the correctness of the formulas.
Therefore, mathematicians are often also almanac researchers, and may even be astronomical observers. Wang Zhenyi, who has a wide range of hobbies, is naturally no exception, and as she studies mathematics, she explores in the direction of astronomy.
In the field of astronomy, Wang Zhenyi left behind works such as "Precession to Discernment", "Huang Chi Er Dao Debate", and "TheOry of the Circle of the Earth".
For the ancients, the concept of precession was that the position of the same star on the same day of each year changed slightly. After this change accumulates for several decades, it will have a great impact on solar terms, calendars, and so on. However, the interpretation of precession in previous generations is different, and the solutions are also various, and there are many opinions.
What Wang Zhenyi did was to summarize the theories of Yu Xi, Zu Chongzhi, Monk Yixing, Guo Shoujing and other predecessors, and combined with the Chinese and Western calendars, and finally studied a more accurate conclusion that "the winter solstice day regresses once every seventy years".
A postcard of Wang Zhenyi (full of slots).
More importantly, when the "heavenly circle place" theory was still prevalent at that time, she confirmed the correctness of the earth circle theory through various "soil experiments" of her own, which was a very progressive scientific understanding in the middle of the Qing Dynasty.
It is precisely for this reason that in the follow-up research work, Wang Zhenyi correctly interpreted the position relationship between the sun, the earth and the moon during the eclipse and the moon, and the causes of this astronomical phenomenon, and wrote "Lunar Eclipse Solution" for the world to learn.
Imagine that in the Republic of China and even after the liberation of the people, there are countless sayings that "the tengu eats the moon is an ominous omen". We may be able to understand Wang Zhenyi's thoughts and research results beyond the confinement of his time.
In this context, Wang Zhenyi's academic achievements have been transmitted to the Western world through cultural exchange channels such as missionaries, becoming a scientific star at the level of "China's Marie Curie", and it is not surprising that she has obtained the "naming right" of astronomical discoveries.
Unfortunately, Wang Zhenyi died of illness at the age of 29. A large number of manuscripts of scientific research were also lost after her death, and only a very small proportion of them survived, but it was enough for us to see her greatness.
Looking back on her life, some people may feel that she did not have any breakthrough scientific research results. However, we also need to take into account that limited by the environment of the times, Wang Zhenyi, as a woman in the feudal period, has made so many research results at the age of only 29, which is enough to prove that her ability is superior.
What her spirit gives us is a model that brings infinite hope to future generations. Whether it is the identity of the Qing Dynasty, the identity of a woman, or the identity of the Chinese, a sentence she once wrote may be the best annotation to her life's practice of the spirit of equality:
"If you are also a man, you are the same mind."
Nature research，Wang Zhenyi to Mamie Phipps Clark：women who paved the way in science，Nature Research Awards for Inspiring and Innovating Science，2020-4-9
Shiyu Tao, Female Scientist Wang Zhenyi Research, Master's Thesis of Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, June 2016
Chen Guanrong, Who Says Sons and Daughters Are Not Heroes, System and Control, City University of Hong Kong Expert Series, No. 1, 2020