Mei wending

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Mei Wending (* 1633 in Xuanzhou (then Xuangcheng), † 1721 ) was a Chinese mathematician and astronomer.

Mei Wending lived in a time when the European science mediated by Jesuits was confronted with traditional Chinese science, and he tried to mediate in this connection. In 1645, against resistance, the more precise calendar developed under the direction of the Jesuit Adam Schall von Bell prevailed in China. Schall von Bell had been in China since 1618 after the Chinese scholars were unable to fix an error in the calendar in 1611 and they sought help from abroad, which was controversial. From 1630 he was concerned with the calendar reform in Beijing. Mei Wending was a student of Daoist Ni Guanghu , who was also a calendar expert . During the conquest of Beijing (1644) by the Mongols (Manchu), his family supported the old Ming dynasty. In 1662 his first work on the calendar (Lixue pianzhi) appeared. In it he explains that in the course of time numerous errors in the astronomical works have accumulated through tradition. Following Xu Guangqi (1562–1633), he made comparative studies between China's western and Chinese history of astronomy and saw a universal pursuit of progress shared by both schools. In 1701 his book Inquiry into Mathematical Astronomy (Lixue yiwen) was published, which aroused the interest of the Manchu emperor Kangxi, who ruled from 1661. He was called in by the Emperor Kangxi, who himself pursued mathematical studies in order to keep up with the lead abroad and granted him an audience in 1703, to train students and to start a mathematical-astronomical encyclopedia that was supposed to summarize Chinese and foreign knowledge. This was continued by his grandson Mei Juecheng , who was his student (together with the son of the minister Li Guangdi ) and who later published his works (Lisuan quanshu 1723).

He also wrote purely mathematical works, such as the Complements to Geometry (Jihe bubian) with volume calculations of polyhedra and the Complete Explanation of Geometry (Jihe tongjie), in which he describes Euclid's elements and the sections on the right triangle in the classic Nine Chapters of Arithmetic ( Jiuzhang Suanshu ) brought together. His first mathematical work was on the solution of linear systems of equations (Fangcheng lun, 1672), in which he linked to older Chinese writings. This was an area the Jesuit missionaries brought little new to China about, and Mei Wending was able to demonstrate the superiority of Chinese mathematics. Another topic was the Pythagorean theorem (called Gougou theorem in China). Mei Wending was able to find the ancient Chinese evidence, such as that of Liu Hui in his Commentary on the Nine Chapters of Arithmetic, and gave two new evidence (Gougu juyu, Explanation of Right Triangles , before 1692). In 1700 he published Qiandu celiang ( measurement of a prism with two right-angled triangular bases ), which explained a coordinate transformation of the spherical astronomy of Guo Shoujing from 1280 by trigonometry. In a work from 1704 (Pinggliding sancha xiangshuo) he explained the approximation methods used in the ancient Chinese calendar, and in 1710 he wrote a work on the volume of the sphere (Fangyuan miji).

His son Mei Yiyan was also a good mathematician, but died early. His youngest brother Mei Wenmi wrote a star catalog.

literature

  • Dauben, Scriba (Ed.): Writing the history of mathematics , Birkhäuser 2002
  • C. Jami: History of mathematics in Mei Wending's (1633-1721) work , Historia Sci., Vol. 4, 1994, pp. 159-174.
  • C. Jami, Q Han: The Reconstruction of Imperial Mathematics in China during the Kangxi Reign (1662-1722) , Early Science and Medicine, Volume 8, 2003, pp. 88-110.
  • X. Lu, X. Jiang: The early calendar work of Mei Wending: LiXuePianQi , Ann. Shanghai Obs. Acad. Sin., Vol. 18, 1997, pp. 250-256.

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personal data
SURNAME Mei, Wending
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chinese mathematician and astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH 1633
PLACE OF BIRTH Xuanzhou
DATE OF DEATH 1721