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Qing-era scholar Wang Zhenyi used a round table, crystal lamp and mirror to demonstrate how the Sun, Earth and Moon align during eclipses.

Moving the heavens onto a table

SpaceScienceBiography

Why it matters

The idea in context

Wang lived only twenty-nine years, yet wrote on astronomy, mathematics and the education of women. To explain lunar eclipses, she used a round table as Earth, hung a crystal lamp as the Sun and placed a round mirror as the Moon. By arranging the three according to astronomical principles, she turned celestial geometry into a demonstration another observer could reproduce with ordinary things.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

Qing dönemi bilgini Wang Zhenyi, Güneş, Dünya ve Ay'ın tutulmalar sırasında nasıl hizalandığını yuvarlak bir masa, kristal lamba ve aynayla gösterdi.
Göğü bir masanın üzerine taşımak

Wang yalnızca yirmi dokuz yıl yaşadı; yine de astronomi, matematik ve kadınların eğitimi üzerine yazdı. Ay tutulmasını anlatmak için yuvarlak masayı Dünya, tavandan astığı kristal lambayı Güneş, yuvarlak aynayı Ay olarak kullandı. Üçünü astronomi ilkelerine göre düzenleyerek gök geometrisini başka bir gözlemcinin sıradan nesnelerle tekrarlayabileceği bir gösteriye dönüştürdü.

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Background reading: Wang Zhenyi (astronomer)Attribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.
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