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149-521: Joseph Needham , a historian of China, speculated that some star charts of the Chinese Song dynasty may have been drafted on the Mercator projection; however, this claim was presented without evidence, and astronomical historian Kazuhiko Miyajima concluded using cartometric analysis that these charts used an equirectangular projection instead. In the 13th century, the earliest extant portolan charts of

298-435: A compass rose or protractor, and the corresponding directions are easily transferred from point to point, on the map, e.g. with the help of a parallel ruler . Because the linear scale of a Mercator map in normal aspect increases with latitude, it distorts the size of geographical objects far from the equator and conveys a distorted perception of the overall geometry of the planet. At latitudes greater than 70° north or south,

447-429: A lensatic or prismatic sighting system. A floating card compass always gives bearings in relation to magnetic north and cannot be adjusted for declination. True north must be computed by adding or subtracting local magnetic declination. The example on the left demonstrates a typical conversion of a magnetic bearing from a floating card compass to a true bearing by adding the magnetic declination. The declination in

596-433: A Harvard reviewer claimed "will go down in the history of science as Joseph Needham's magnum opus, " little knowing what would come later. Although his career as biochemist and an academic was well established, his career developed in unanticipated directions during and after World War II . Three Chinese scientists came to Cambridge for graduate study in 1937: Lu Gwei-djen , Wang Ying-lai , and Shen Shih-Chang ( 沈詩章 ,

745-442: A Mercator map printed in a book might have an equatorial width of 13.4 cm corresponding to a globe radius of 2.13 cm and an RF of approximately ⁠ 1 / 300M ⁠ (M is used as an abbreviation for 1,000,000 in writing an RF) whereas Mercator's original 1569 map has a width of 198 cm corresponding to a globe radius of 31.5 cm and an RF of about ⁠ 1 / 20M ⁠ . A cylindrical map projection

894-453: A better future. The Bible, in Sanderson's teaching, supplied archaeological knowledge to compare with the present. During school holidays, Needham assisted his father in the operating rooms of several wartime hospitals, an experience that convinced him that he was not interested in becoming a surgeon. The Royal Navy, however, appointed him a surgeon sub-lieutenant, a position that he held for only

1043-516: A better government now than for centuries", but on a visit in 1972 he was deeply depressed by the changes under the Cultural Revolution . Needham married the biochemist Dorothy Moyle (1896–1987) in 1924 and they became the first husband and wife both to be elected as Fellows of the Royal Society . Simon Winchester notes that, in his younger days, Needham was an avid gymnosophist and he

1192-522: A comparative advantage in developing technology in modern times. Lin blamed the institutions in China for preventing the adoption of the experiment-based methodology. Its sociopolitical institution inhibited intellectual creativity, but more importantly, it diverted this creativity away from scientific endeavours. Totalitarian control by the state in the Chinese Empire inhibited public dispute, competition, and

1341-420: A compass bearing mark (e.g., compass north) is right of the related magnetic bearing (e.g., magnetic north) and vice versa. For example, if the boat is aligned to magnetic north and the compass' north mark points 3° more east, deviation is +3°. Deviation varies for every compass in the same location and depends on such factors as the magnetic field of the vessel, wristwatches, etc. The value also varies depending on

1490-478: A course, some small aircraft pilots may plot a trip using true north on a sectional chart (map), then convert the true north bearings to magnetic north for in-plane navigation using the magnetic compass. These bearings are then converted on a pre-flight plan by adding or subtracting the local variation displayed on a sectional chart. GPS systems used for aircraft navigation also display directions in terms of magnetic north even though their intrinsic coordinate system

1639-490: A different relationship that does not diverge at  φ  = ±90°. A transverse Mercator projection tilts the cylinder axis so that it is perpendicular to Earth's axis. The tangent standard line then coincides with a meridian and its opposite meridian, giving a constant scale factor along those meridians and making the projection useful for mapping regions that are predominately north–south in extent. In its more complex ellipsoidal form, most national grid systems around

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1788-509: A few months. In 1921, Needham graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge . In January 1925, Needham earned an MA . In October 1925, Needham earned a PhD . He had intended to study medicine, but came under the influence of Frederick Hopkins , resulting in his switch to biochemistry . After graduation, Needham was elected to a fellowship at Gonville and Caius College and worked in Hopkins' laboratory at

1937-438: A high degree of self-esteem. Just as put forward by Landes (2006), the downward tyranny combined with the cultural triumphalism had made China as a state to become a bad learner. (p. 11). It is clear China could not be able to accept any information from their inferiors. The High-Level Equilibrium Trap. High population, although sometimes it can be a cheap source of labor which is necessary for economic development, sometimes

2086-406: A map in Mercator projection that correctly showed those two coordinates. Many major online street mapping services ( Bing Maps , Google Maps , Mapbox , MapQuest , OpenStreetMap , Yahoo! Maps , and others) use a variant of the Mercator projection for their map images called Web Mercator or Google Web Mercator. Despite its obvious scale variation at the world level (small scales), the projection

2235-401: A median latitude, hk = 11.7. For Australia, taking 25° as a median latitude, hk = 1.2. For Great Britain, taking 55° as a median latitude, hk = 3.04. The variation with latitude is sometimes indicated by multiple bar scales as shown below. The classic way of showing the distortion inherent in a projection is to use Tissot's indicatrix . Nicolas Tissot noted that the scale factors at

2384-459: A part that could not be found elsewhere in Chinese civilization. The mainstream school of thinking of the bureaucratic Chinese elite, or ' Confucianism ' (another problematic term) in his vocabulary, seemed to him to be less interested in science and technology, and to have 'turned its face away from Nature.' Ironically, the dynasty that apparently turned away from printing from 706 till its demise in 907

2533-475: A particular location on the Earth's surface. The angle can change over time due to polar wandering . Magnetic north is the direction that the north end of a magnetized compass needle points, which corresponds to the direction of the Earth's magnetic field lines. True north is the direction along a meridian towards the geographic North Pole . Somewhat more formally, Bowditch defines variation as "the angle between

2682-508: A point on a map projection, specified by the numbers h and k , define an ellipse at that point. For cylindrical projections, the axes of the ellipse are aligned to the meridians and parallels. For the Mercator projection, h  =  k , so the ellipses degenerate into circles with radius proportional to the value of the scale factor for that latitude. These circles are rendered on the projected map with extreme variation in size, indicative of Mercator's scale variations. As discussed above,

2831-677: A poor section of town, rose to become a Harley Street physician, but frequently battled with Needham's mother. The young Needham often mediated. In his early teens, he was taken to hear the Sunday lectures of Ernest Barnes , a professional mathematician who became Master of the Temple , a royal church in London. Barnes inspired an interest in the philosophers and medieval scholastics that Needham pursued in his father's library. Needham later attributed his strong Christian faith to Barnes' philosophical theology, which

2980-403: A reference object close to the horizon, from which its bearing can be taken. A rough estimate of the local declination (within a few degrees) can be determined from a general isogonic chart of the world or a continent, such as those illustrated above. Isogonic lines are also shown on aeronautical and nautical charts . Larger-scale local maps may indicate current local declination, often with

3129-802: A ship or aircraft. Magnetic declination should not be confused with magnetic inclination , also known as magnetic dip, which is the angle that the Earth's magnetic field lines make with the downward side of the horizontal plane. Magnetic declination varies both from place to place and with the passage of time. As a traveller cruises the east coast of the United States, for example, the declination varies from 16 degrees west in Maine, to 6 in Florida, to 0 degrees in Louisiana, to 4 degrees east in Texas. The declination at London, UK

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3278-494: A small delta-point or arrowhead on the compass baseplate west or east of magnetic north pointing to true north on the compass bezel. Other compasses of this design utilize an adjustable declination mechanism integrated with the compass bezel, resulting in true north readings each time the needle is aligned with the orienting arrow. Compasses that utilize a floating magnetized dial or card are commonly found in marine compasses and in certain models used for land navigation that feature

3427-418: A small portion of the spherical surface without otherwise distorting it, preserving angles between intersecting curves. Afterward, this cylinder is unrolled onto a flat plane to make a map. In this interpretation, the scale of the surface is preserved exactly along the circle where the cylinder touches the sphere, but increases nonlinearly for points further from the contact circle. However, by uniformly shrinking

3576-448: A straight segment. Such a course, known as a rhumb (alternately called a rhumb line or loxodrome) is preferred in marine navigation because ships can sail in a constant compass direction. This reduces the difficult, error-prone course corrections that otherwise would be necessary when sailing a different course. For small distances (compared to the radius of the Earth), the difference between

3725-580: A study commission, tacitly offering access to materials and contacts in China needed for his then early research. Needham agreed to be an inspector in North Korea and his report supported the allegations (it is debated to this very day whether the evidence had been planted as a part of a complicated disinformation campaign). Needham's biographer Simon Winchester claimed that "Needham was intellectually in love with communism; and yet communist spymasters and agents, it turned out, had pitilessly duped him." Needham

3874-420: A tender age, he might not have attempted his largest work. Sanderson had been charged by the school's governors with developing a science and technology programme, which included a metal shop that gave the young Needham a grounding in engineering. Sanderson also emphasised to the boys of the school that co-operation led to higher human achievement than competition and that knowledge of history was necessary to build

4023-440: A variation of 8 degrees, 20 minutes West. The 2008 chart shows 13 degrees, 15 minutes West. The magnetic declination at any particular place can be measured directly by reference to the celestial poles —the points in the heavens around which the stars appear to revolve, which mark the direction of true north and true south. The instrument used to perform this measurement is known as a declinometer . The approximate position of

4172-715: Is T = C + D + V {\displaystyle T=C+D+V} Where: For example, if the compass reads 32°, the local magnetic variation is −5.5° (i.e. West) and the deviation is 0.5° (i.e. East), the true bearing will be: T = 32 ∘ + ( − 5.5 ∘ ) + 0.5 ∘ = 27 ∘ {\displaystyle T=32^{\circ }+(-5.5^{\circ })+0.5^{\circ }=27^{\circ }} To calculate true bearing from compass bearing (and known deviation and variation): To calculate compass bearing from true bearing (and known deviation and variation): These rules are often combined with

4321-411: Is R  cos  φ , the corresponding parallel on the map must have been stretched by a factor of ⁠ 1 / cos φ ⁠ = sec φ . This scale factor on the parallel is conventionally denoted by k and the corresponding scale factor on the meridian is denoted by  h . The Mercator projection is conformal . One implication of that is the "isotropy of scale factors", which means that

4470-542: Is World Magnetic Model (WMM) of the US and UK. It is built with all the information available to the map-makers at the start of the five-year period it is prepared for. It reflects a highly predictable rate of change, and is usually more accurate than a map—which is likely months or years out of date. For historical data, the IGRF and GUFM models may be used. Tools for using such models include: The WMM, IGRF, and GUFM models only describe

4619-473: Is a specific parameterization of the cylindrical equal-area projection . In response, a 1989 resolution by seven North American geographical groups disparaged using cylindrical projections for general-purpose world maps, which would include both the Mercator and the Gall–Peters. Practically every marine chart in print is based on the Mercator projection due to its uniquely favorable properties for navigation. It

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4768-473: Is also clear that the agrarian revolution experienced in Europe was a tangible asset towards industrialization. The issue of the abundance of land was also at the forefront in ensuring that industrial revolution was realized in Europe contrary to what was experienced in China whereby the large populations put a lot of strain to the available resources as a result making industrial revolution unattainable in China during

4917-461: Is also commonly used by street map services hosted on the Internet, due to its uniquely favorable properties for local-area maps computed on demand. Mercator projections were also important in the mathematical development of plate tectonics in the 1960s. The Mercator projection was designed for use in marine navigation because of its unique property of representing any course of constant bearing as

5066-450: Is based on true north. This is accomplished by means of lookup tables inside the GPS which account for magnetic declination. If flying under visual flight rules it is acceptable to fly with an outdated GPS declination database however if flying IFR the database must be updated every 28 days per FAA regulation. As a fail-safe even the most advanced airliner will still have a magnetic compass in

5215-421: Is necessary to periodically revise navigational aids to reflect the drift in magnetic declination over time. This requirement applies to VOR beacons, runway numbering, airway labeling, and aircraft vectoring directions given by air traffic control , all of which are based on magnetic direction. Runways are designated by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth of the magnetic azimuth of

5364-479: Is specified by formulae linking the geographic coordinates of latitude  φ and longitude  λ to Cartesian coordinates on the map with origin on the equator and x -axis along the equator. By construction, all points on the same meridian lie on the same generator of the cylinder at a constant value of x , but the distance y along the generator (measured from the equator) is an arbitrary function of latitude, y ( φ ). In general this function does not describe

5513-627: Is this: why had China been overtaken by the West in science and technology, despite their earlier successes? In Needham's words, "Why did modern science, the mathematization of hypotheses about Nature, with all its implications for advanced technology, take its meteoric rise only in the West at the time of Galileo?", and why it "had not developed in Chinese civilization" which, in the previous many centuries "was much more efficient than occidental in applying" natural knowledge to practical needs. Francis Bacon considered four inventions as completely transforming

5662-494: Is well-suited as an interactive world map that can be zoomed seamlessly to local (large-scale) maps, where there is relatively little distortion due to the variant projection's near- conformality . The major online street mapping services' tiling systems display most of the world at the lowest zoom level as a single square image, excluding the polar regions by truncation at latitudes of φ max  = ±85.05113°. (See below .) Latitude values outside this range are mapped using

5811-579: The Gujin Tushu Jicheng encyclopaedia, a comprehensive record of China's past. On his return to Europe, he was asked by Julian Huxley to become the first head of the Natural Sciences Section of UNESCO in Paris, France. In fact it was Needham who insisted that science should be included in the organisation's mandate at an earlier planning meeting. After two years in which the suspicions of

5960-565: The equator ; the closer to the poles of the Earth, the greater the distortion. Because of great land area distortions, critics like George Kellaway and Irving Fisher consider the projection unsuitable for general world maps. It has been conjectured to have influenced people's views of the world: because it shows countries near the Equator as too small when compared to those of Europe and North America, it has been supposed to cause people to consider those countries as less important. Mercator himself used

6109-421: The globe in this section. The globe determines the scale of the map. The various cylindrical projections specify how the geographic detail is transferred from the globe to a cylinder tangential to it at the equator. The cylinder is then unrolled to give the planar map. The fraction ⁠ R / a ⁠ is called the representative fraction (RF) or the principal scale of the projection. For example,

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6258-405: The integral of the secant function , The function y ( φ ) is plotted alongside φ for the case R  = 1: it tends to infinity at the poles. The linear y -axis values are not usually shown on printed maps; instead some maps show the non-linear scale of latitude values on the right. More often than not the maps show only a graticule of selected meridians and parallels. The expression on

6407-462: The topographic maps of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), for example, a diagram shows the relationship between magnetic north in the area concerned (with an arrow marked "MN") and true north (a vertical line with a five-pointed star at its top), with a label near the angle between the MN arrow and the vertical line, stating the size of the declination and of that angle, in degrees, mils , or both. However,

6556-462: The "periphery" nations that lie outside of the bright zone. In addition to supporting periphery nations, Needham incorporated his desire for a non-Eurocentric record of science in UNESCO's mission. To this end, Huxley and Needham devised an ambitious scholarly project they called The History of Scientific and Cultural Development of Mankind (shortened to History of Mankind ) . The goal of this project

6705-466: The Americans over scientific co-operation with communists intensified, Needham resigned in 1948 and returned to Gonville and Caius College, where he resumed his fellowship and his rooms, which were soon filled with his books. He devoted his energy to the history of Chinese science until his retirement in 1990, even though he continued to teach some biochemistry until 1993. Needham's reputation recovered from

6854-633: The Chair of Chinese in the University of Cambridge, a post never awarded to Needham, was endowed in his honour as the Joseph Needham Professorship of Chinese History, Science and Civilisation . Since 2016, an annual Needham Memorial Lecture is held at Clare College. Needham was a high church Anglo-Catholic who worshipped regularly at Ely Cathedral and in the college chapel, but he also described himself as an "honorary Taoist ". In 1961, Needham

7003-539: The Chinese beat Europeans to the Scientific Revolution? – happens to be one of the few questions that people often ask in public places about why something didn't happen in history. It is analogous to the question of why your name did not appear on page 3 of today's newspaper. There are several hypotheses attempting to explain the Needham Question. Yingqiu Liu and Chunjiang Liu argued that the issue rested on

7152-446: The Chinese state. As illustrated, "The Ming code of core laws also sought to block social mobility" (Landes, 2006, p. 7). How can you expect the industrial revolution to a country that prohibited its people from performing social mobility? From the above, you will come to find that it is clear that the Chinese would not be able to achieve industrial revolution since they were heavily tamed by their state government who were naïve about

7301-415: The Earth's crust may contribute strongly to the declination. Similarly, secular changes to these flows result in slow changes to the field strength and direction at the same point on the Earth. The magnetic declination in a given area may (most likely will) change slowly over time, possibly as little as 2–2.5 degrees every hundred years or so, depending on where it is measured. For a location close to

7450-468: The Earth's surface along which the declination has the same constant value, and lines along which the declination is zero are called agonic lines . The lowercase Greek letter δ (delta) is frequently used as the symbol for magnetic declination. The term magnetic deviation is sometimes used loosely to mean the same as magnetic declination, but more correctly it refers to the error in a compass reading induced by nearby metallic objects, such as iron on board

7599-463: The History of Science Committee. The Committee included conservatives but also Marxists like J.D. Bernal , whose views on the social and economic frameworks of science influence Needham. Needham's Terry Lecture of 1936 was published by Cambridge University Press in association with Yale University Press under the title of Order and Life . In 1939 he produced a massive work on morphogenesis that

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7748-568: The Korean affair (see below) such that by 1959 he was elected as president of the fellows of Caius College and in 1965 he became Master (head) of the college, a post which he held until he was 76. In 1948, Needham proposed a project to the Cambridge University Press for a book on Science and Civilisation in China . Within weeks of being accepted, the project had grown to seven volumes, and it has expanded ever since. His initial collaborator

7897-497: The Mediterranean sea, which are generally not believed to be based on any deliberate map projection, included windrose networks of criss-crossing lines which could be used to help set a ship's bearing in sailing between locations on the chart; the region of the Earth covered by such charts was small enough that a course of constant bearing would be approximately straight on the chart. The charts have startling accuracy not found in

8046-473: The Mercator projection can be found in many world maps in the centuries following Mercator's first publication. However, it did not begin to dominate world maps until the 19th century, when the problem of position determination had been largely solved. Once the Mercator became the usual projection for commercial and educational maps, it came under persistent criticism from cartographers for its unbalanced representation of landmasses and its inability to usefully show

8195-419: The Mercator projection is practically unusable, because the linear scale becomes infinitely large at the poles. A Mercator map can therefore never fully show the polar areas (but see Uses below for applications of the oblique and transverse Mercator projections). The Mercator projection is often compared to and confused with the central cylindrical projection , which is the result of projecting points from

8344-481: The Mercator projection is the unique projection which balances this East–West stretching by a precisely corresponding North–South stretching, so that at every location the scale is locally uniform and angles are preserved. The Mercator projection in normal aspect maps trajectories of constant bearing (called rhumb lines or loxodromes ) on a sphere to straight lines on the map, and is thus uniquely suited to marine navigation : courses and bearings are measured using

8493-535: The North and South poles, and the contact circle is the Earth's equator . As for all cylindrical projections in normal aspect, circles of latitude and meridians of longitude are straight and perpendicular to each other on the map, forming a grid of rectangles. While circles of latitude on the Earth are smaller the closer they are to the poles, they are stretched in an East–West direction to have uniform length on any cylindrical map projection. Among cylindrical projections,

8642-573: The University Department of Biochemistry, specialising in embryology and morphogenesis . His three-volume work Chemical Embryology , published in 1931, includes a history of embryology from Egyptian times up to the early 19th century, including quotations in most European languages. Including this history reflected Needham's fear that overspecialization would hold back scientific progress and that social and historical forces shaped science. In 1936, he and several other Cambridge scientists founded

8791-458: The Web Mercator. The Mercator projection can be visualized as the result of wrapping a cylinder tightly around a sphere, with the two surfaces tangent to (touching) each other along a circle halfway between the poles of their common axis, and then conformally unfolding the surface of the sphere outward onto the cylinder, meaning that at each point the projection uniformly scales the image of

8940-481: The accumulated sufficient knowledge. A strong need to save labor was finally felt in Europe. The agrarian revolution experienced before also provided agricultural surplus that ultimately served as the core assets towards financing the industrial revolution. (p. 272). The accumulation of adequate labor and knowledge to their threshold was a significant step that the European embraced to ignite an industrial revolution. It

9089-436: The aid of a schematic diagram. Unless the area depicted is very small, declination may vary measurably over the extent of the map, so the data may be referred to a specific location on the map. The current rate and direction of change may also be shown, for example in arcminutes per year. The same diagram may show the angle of grid north (the direction of the map's north–south grid lines), which may differ from true north. On

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9238-530: The aspect of innovation. According to Justin Lin, China did not make the shift from an experience-based technological invention process to an experiment-based innovation process. The experience-based process depended on the size of a population, and while new technologies have come about through the trials and errors of the peasants and artisans, experiment-based processes surpasses experience-based processes in yielding new technology. Progress from experimentation following

9387-439: The belief that science was the universal experience that bound humanity, Huxley and Needham hoped that their project would help ease some of the animosity between the two spheres. The project involved hundreds of scholars from around the globe and took over a decade to reach fruition in 1966. The work is still continued today with new volumes published periodically. "Needham's Grand Question", also known as "The Needham Question",

9536-747: The caves in Dunhuang at the end of the Great Wall where the earliest dated printed book - a copy of the Diamond Sutra - was found. The other long trip reached Fuzhou on the east coast, returning across the Xiang River just two days before the Japanese blew up the bridge at Hengyang and cut off that part of China. In 1944 he visited Yunnan in an attempt to reach the Burmese border. Everywhere he went he purchased and

9685-473: The culture of the Chinese has valued the males in the society; as a result, early marriages were experienced which boosted the fertility rates leading to the rapid increase in the China population. (p. 271). An increase in population with no equivalent increase in economic and technological development will ultimately suppress the available resources causing laxity to the general economic development. The high population experienced in China significantly raised

9834-425: The diagram itself is not an accurate depiction of the stated numerical declination angle, but is intentionally exaggerated by the cartographer for purposes of legibility. Worldwide empirical model of the deep flows described above are available for describing and predicting features of the Earth's magnetic field, including the magnetic declination for any given location at any time in a given timespan. One such model

9983-399: The early fourteenth century. Needham's work has been criticised by most scholars who assert that it has a strong inclination to exaggerate Chinese technological achievements and has an excessive propensity to assume a Chinese origin for the wide range of objects his work covered. Pierre-Yves Manguin writes, for instance: J Needham's (1971) monumental work on Chinese nautics offers by far

10132-445: The effects of these institutions on technological advancement were indirect. Needham's political views were unorthodox and his lifestyle controversial. His left-wing stance was based in a form of Christian socialism . However he was influenced by Louis Rapkine and Liliana Lubińska , both Marxists brought up with a Jewish anti-clerical outlook. He never joined any Communist Party . After 1949 his sympathy with Chinese culture

10281-491: The entire chart need not be rotated as magnetic declination changes. Instead individual printed elements on the chart (such as VOR compass roses) are updated with each revision of the chart to reflect changes in magnetic declination. For an example refer to the sectional chart slightly west of Winston-Salem, North Carolina in March 2021, magnetic north is 8 degrees west of true north ( Note the dashed line marked 8°W ). When plotting

10430-512: The equal-area sinusoidal projection to show relative areas. However, despite such criticisms, the Mercator projection was, especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, perhaps the most common projection used in world maps. Atlases largely stopped using the Mercator projection for world maps or for areas distant from the equator in the 1940s, preferring other cylindrical projections , or forms of equal-area projection . The Mercator projection is, however, still commonly used for areas near

10579-457: The equator where distortion is minimal. It is also frequently found in maps of time zones. Arno Peters stirred controversy beginning in 1972 when he proposed what is now usually called the Gall–Peters projection to remedy the problems of the Mercator, claiming it to be his own original work without referencing prior work by cartographers such as Gall's work from 1855. The projection he promoted

10728-400: The example is 14°E (+14°). If, instead, the declination was 14°W (−14°), you would still “add” it to the magnetic bearing to obtain the true bearing: 40°+ (−14°) = 26°. Conversely, local declination is subtracted from a true bearing to obtain a magnetic bearing. With a local declination of 14°E, a true bearing (i.e. obtained from a map) of 54° is converted to a magnetic bearing (for use in

10877-505: The expansion of a countries market. As Landes (2006) further puts it, in 1368 when the new emperor Hongwu was inaugurated, his main objective was war. (p. 6). A lot of revenue that can otherwise be used for innovative procedures are as a result lost in wars. Heavy participation in war significantly hindered the Chinese to have the capability of focusing on the industrial revolution. Landes (2006) further explains that Chinese were advised to stay put and never to move without permission from

11026-401: The feudal system that the European had embraced, (p. 272). The availability of unexploited ventures made European have significant potential in the execution of a fully-fledged industrial revolution. Lin (1995) further adds that although Europe was lagging behind China during the pre-modern era in terms of economic and technological advancements, the right time finally came for Europe to use

11175-962: The field of Chinese technological history, he still struggled to break free from his preconceived notions of European exceptionalism. Re-Orient criticizes Needham for his Eurocentric assumptions borrowed from Marx and the presupposition of Needham's famous Grand Question that science was a uniquely Western phenomenon. Frank observes: Alas, it was also originally Needham's Marxist and Weberian point of departure. As Needham found more and more evidence about science and technology in China, he struggled to liberate himself from his Eurocentric original sin, which he had inherited directly from Marx, as Cohen also observes. But Needham never quite succeeded, perhaps because his concentration on China prevented him from sufficiently revising his still ethnocentric view of Europe itself. T. H. Barrett asserts in The Woman Who Discovered Printing that Needham

11324-436: The field) by subtracting declination: 54° – 14° = 40°. If the local declination was 14°W (−14°), it is again subtracted from the true bearing to obtain a magnetic bearing: 54°- (−14°) = 68°. On aircraft or vessels there are three types of bearing : true, magnetic, and compass bearing. Compass error is divided into two parts, namely magnetic variation and magnetic deviation , the latter originating from magnetic properties of

11473-561: The form of the Web Mercator projection . Today, the Mercator can be found in marine charts, occasional world maps, and Web mapping services, but commercial atlases have largely abandoned it, and wall maps of the world can be found in many alternative projections. Google Maps , which relied on it since 2005, still uses it for local-area maps but dropped the projection from desktop platforms in 2017 for maps that are zoomed out of local areas. Many other online mapping services still exclusively use

11622-418: The geometrical projection (as of light rays onto a screen) from the centre of the globe to the cylinder, which is only one of an unlimited number of ways to conceptually project a cylindrical map. Since the cylinder is tangential to the globe at the equator, the scale factor between globe and cylinder is unity on the equator but nowhere else. In particular since the radius of a parallel, or circle of latitude,

11771-430: The geometry of corresponding small elements on the globe and map. The figure below shows a point P at latitude  φ and longitude  λ on the globe and a nearby point Q at latitude φ  +  δφ and longitude λ  +  δλ . The vertical lines PK and MQ are arcs of meridians of length Rδφ . The horizontal lines PM and KQ are arcs of parallels of length R (cos  φ ) δλ . The corresponding points on

11920-405: The globe radius R . It is often convenient to work directly with the map width W  = 2 π R . For example, the basic transformation equations become The ordinate y of the Mercator projection becomes infinite at the poles and the map must be truncated at some latitude less than ninety degrees. This need not be done symmetrically. Mercator's original map is truncated at 80°N and 66°S with

12069-420: The growth of modern science, while the clusters of independent European nations were more favourable to competition and scientific development. In addition, the Chinese did not have the incentives to acquire human capital necessary for modern scientific experimentation. Civil service was deemed the most rewarding and honourable work in pre-modern China. The gifted had more incentives to pursue this route to move up

12218-402: The help of Allied governments, UNESCO is an international organization that aims to bring education to regions that had been affected by Nazi occupation. Needham and Huxley advocated the growth of scientific education as a means to overcome political conflict and hence founded UNESCO in an effort to expand its influence. Composed of representatives from various Allied countries, UNESCO operated on

12367-430: The help of international education the most. He also argued that the lack of familiarity between other nations and those in the bright zone made ideological exchange difficult. Finally, he expressed the notion that other countries had issues disseminating knowledge because they lacked the capital necessary for distribution. Due to these constraints, Needham suggested that most of the organization's support should be given to

12516-451: The high population can be a great setback when it comes to development. The land which a factor of production can be negatively affected by high population. The ratio of person-to-land-area will eventually decrease as the population of a community grows. During the thirteenth century, China was significantly affected by this population factor when it came to the point of ignition of an industrial revolution. As Lin (1995) puts forward, initially,

12665-436: The impossibility of determining the longitude at sea with adequate accuracy and the fact that magnetic directions, instead of geographical directions , were used in navigation. Only in the middle of the 18th century, after the marine chronometer was invented and the spatial distribution of magnetic declination was known, could the Mercator projection be fully adopted by navigators. Despite those position-finding limitations,

12814-451: The isotropy condition implies that h = k = sec φ . Consider a point on the globe of radius R with longitude λ and latitude φ . If φ is increased by an infinitesimal amount, dφ , the point moves R dφ along a meridian of the globe of radius R , so the corresponding change in y , dy , must be hR dφ = R  sec  φ dφ . Therefore y′ ( φ ) =  R  sec  φ . Similarly, increasing λ by dλ moves

12963-519: The lack of property rights and that those rights were only obtainable through favour of the emperor. Protection was incomplete as the emperor could rescind those rights at any time. Science and technology were subjugated to the needs of the feudal royal family, and any new discoveries were sequestered by the government for its use. The government took steps to control and interfere with private enterprises by manipulating prices and engaging in bribery. Each revolution in China redistributed property rights under

13112-493: The logic of a scientific method can occur at a much faster rate because the inventor can perform many trials during the same production period under a controlled environment. Results from experimentation is dependent on the stock of scientific knowledge while results from experience-based processes is tied directly to the size of a population; hence, experiment-based innovation processes have a higher likelihood of producing better technology as human capital grows. China had about twice

13261-401: The magnetic North Pole makes the magnetic declination large and changes in it happen at a high pace. Radionavigation aids located on the ground, such as VORs , are also checked and updated to keep them aligned with magnetic north to allow pilots to use their magnetic compasses for accurate and reliable in-plane navigation. For simplicity aviation sectional charts are drawn using true north so

13410-420: The magnetic and geographic meridians at any place, expressed in degrees and minutes east or west to indicate the direction of magnetic north from true north. The angle between magnetic and grid meridians is called grid magnetic angle, grid variation, or grivation." By convention, declination is positive when magnetic north is east of true north, and negative when it is to the west. Isogonic lines are lines on

13559-490: The magnetic field as emitted at the core-mantle boundary. In practice, the magnetic field is also distorted by the Earth crust, the distortion being magnetic anomaly . For more precise estimates, a larger crust-aware model such as the Enhanced Magnetic Model may be used. (See cited page for a comparison of declination contours.) A magnetic compass points to magnetic north, not geographic (true) north. Compasses of

13708-553: The man to land ratio. The China population was massive. Just as Lin (1995) elaborates, the raising man-land-ratio in the Chinese meant that there was a diminishing surplus per capita. Due to this, China were not able to have surplus resources which can be tapped and used to ignite the industrial revolution. Just as Lin (1995) puts forward, Europeans were enjoying an optimum man to land ratio with no land strain. The Europeans also had vast unexploited technologies as well as economics possibilities. All these advantages were possible because of

13857-416: The map Nova et Aucta Orbis Terrae Descriptio ad Usum Navigantium Emendata : "A new and augmented description of Earth corrected for the use of sailors". This title, along with an elaborate explanation for using the projection that appears as a section of text on the map, shows that Mercator understood exactly what he had achieved and that he intended the projection to aid navigation. Mercator never explained

14006-624: The maps constructed by contemporary European or Arab scholars, and their construction remains enigmatic; based on cartometric analysis which seems to contradict the scholarly consensus, they have been speculated to have originated in some unknown pre-medieval cartographic tradition, possibly evidence of some ancient understanding of the Mercator projection. German polymath Erhard Etzlaub engraved miniature "compass maps" (about 10×8 cm) of Europe and parts of Africa that spanned latitudes 0°–67° to allow adjustment of his portable pocket-size sundials . The projection found on these maps, dating to 1511,

14155-410: The mathematical principle of the rhumb line or loxodrome, a path with constant bearing as measured relative to true north, which can be used in marine navigation to pick which compass bearing to follow. In 1537, he proposed constructing a nautical atlas composed of several large-scale sheets in the equirectangular projection as a way to minimize distortion of directions. If these sheets were brought to

14304-404: The maximum latitude attained must correspond to y  = ± ⁠ W / 2 ⁠ , or equivalently ⁠ y / R ⁠  =  π . Any of the inverse transformation formulae may be used to calculate the corresponding latitudes: The relations between y ( φ ) and properties of the projection, such as the transformation of angles and the variation in scale, follow from

14453-530: The method of construction or how he arrived at it. Various hypotheses have been tendered over the years, but in any case Mercator's friendship with Pedro Nunes and his access to the loxodromic tables Nunes created likely aided his efforts. English mathematician Edward Wright published the first accurate tables for constructing the projection in 1599 and, in more detail, in 1610, calling his treatise "Certaine Errors in Navigation". The first mathematical formulation

14602-405: The mnemonic "West is best, East is least"; that is to say, add W declinations when going from True bearings to Magnetic bearings, and subtract E ones. Another simple way to remember which way to apply the correction for continental USA is: Common abbreviations are: Magnetic deviation is the angle from a given magnetic bearing to the related bearing mark of the compass. Deviation is positive if

14751-472: The modern world, marking it off from the antiquity of the Middle Ages: paper and printing, gunpowder, and the magnetic compass. He regarded the origins of these inventions as 'obscure and inglorious', dying without ever knowing that all of them were Chinese. Part of Needham's work attempts to "put this record straight". Needham's works attribute significant weight to the impact of Confucianism and Taoism on

14900-405: The most scholarly synthesis on the subjects of Chinese shipbuilding and navigation. His propensity to view the Chinese as the initiators of all things and his constant references to the superiority of Chinese over the rest of the world's techniques does at times detract from his argument. In another vein of criticism, Andre Gunder Frank 's Re-Orient argues that despite Needham's contributions in

15049-427: The needle (usually painted red). The entire compass is then rotated until the magnetic needle lies within the outlined orienting arrow or box on the bottom of the capsule, and the course heading (in degrees) is displayed at the base of the direction-of-travel arrow on the baseplate. A compass thus adjusted provides a course bearing in relation to true north instead of magnetic north as long as it remains within an area on

15198-486: The north celestial pole is indicated by Polaris (the North Star). In the northern hemisphere, declination can therefore be approximately determined as the difference between the magnetic bearing and a visual bearing on Polaris. Polaris currently traces a circle 0.73° in radius around the north celestial pole, so this technique is accurate to within a degree. At high latitudes a plumb-bob is helpful to sight Polaris against

15347-418: The oblique Mercator in order to keep scale variation low along the surface projection of the cylinder's axis. Although the surface of Earth is best modelled by an oblate ellipsoid of revolution , for small scale maps the ellipsoid is approximated by a sphere of radius a , where a is approximately 6,371 km. This spherical approximation of Earth can be modelled by a smaller sphere of radius R , called

15496-911: The only one under Needham's tutelage). Lu, daughter of a Nanjing pharmacist, taught Needham Chinese, igniting his interest in China's ancient technological and scientific past. He then pursued, and mastered, the study of Classical Chinese privately with Gustav Haloun . Under the Royal Society 's direction, Needham was the director of the Sino-British Science Co-operation Office in Chongqing from 1942 to 1946. During this time he made several long journeys through war-torn China and many smaller ones, visiting scientific and educational establishments and obtaining for them much needed supplies. His longest trip in late 1943 ended in far west in Gansu at

15645-695: The order originally contemplated in the project's prospectus. Needham's final organizing schema was: See Science and Civilisation in China for a full list. The project is still proceeding under the guidance of the Publications Board of the Needham Research Institute , directed by Professor Mei Jianjun. Needham, along with colleague Julian Huxley , was one of the founders of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ). Developed in 1945 with

15794-400: The orientation of the boat. Magnets and/or iron masses can correct for deviation, so that a particular compass accurately displays magnetic bearings. More commonly, however, a correction card lists errors for the compass, which can then be compensated for arithmetically. Deviation must be added to compass bearing to obtain magnetic bearing. Air navigation is based on magnetic directions thus it

15943-576: The pace of Chinese scientific discovery, and emphasises the "diffusionist" approach of Chinese science as opposed to a perceived independent inventiveness in the western world. Needham thought the notion that the Chinese script had inhibited scientific thought was "grossly overrated". His own research revealed a steady accumulation of scientific results throughout Chinese history . In the final volume he suggests "A continuing general and scientific progress manifested itself in traditional Chinese society but this

16092-435: The point R cos φ dλ along a parallel of the globe, so dx = kR cos φ dλ = R dλ . That is, x′ ( λ ) =  R . Integrating the equations with x ( λ 0 ) = 0 and y (0) = 0, gives x(λ) and y(φ) . The value λ 0 is the longitude of an arbitrary central meridian that is usually, but not always, that of Greenwich (i.e., zero). The angles λ and φ are expressed in radians. By

16241-463: The point scale factor is independent of direction, so that small shapes are preserved by the projection. This implies that the vertical scale factor, h , equals the horizontal scale factor, k . Since k = sec φ , so must h . The graph shows the variation of this scale factor with latitude. Some numerical values are listed below. The area scale factor is the product of the parallel and meridian scales hk = sec φ . For Greenland, taking 73° as

16390-428: The polar regions. The criticisms leveled against inappropriate use of the Mercator projection resulted in a flurry of new inventions in the late 19th and early 20th century, often directly touted as alternatives to the Mercator. Due to these pressures, publishers gradually reduced their use of the projection over the course of the 20th century. However, the advent of Web mapping gave the projection an abrupt resurgence in

16539-456: The pole like Ivujivik , the declination may change by 1 degree every three years. This may be insignificant to most travellers, but can be important if using magnetic bearings from old charts or metes (directions) in old deeds for locating places with any precision. As an example of how variation changes over time, see the two charts of the same area (western end of Long Island Sound ), below, surveyed 124 years apart. The 1884 chart shows

16688-405: The population of Europe until the 13th century and so had a higher probability of creating new technologies. After the 14th century, China's population grew exponentially, but progress in innovation saw diminishing returns. Europe had a smaller population but began to integrate science and technology that arose from the scientific revolution in the 17th century. This scientific revolution gave Europe

16837-544: The principle that ideas and information should spread freely among nations. However, Needham disagreed with this initial mode of exchange because of its failure to include nations outside of Europe and America. To communicate his discordance with the model, Needham wrote and distributed a formal message to others in the organization explaining its flaws. He stated that nations outside of the European-American "bright zone", or primary location of scientific advancement, needed

16986-605: The projection define a rectangle of width  δx and height  δy . For small elements, the angle PKQ is approximately a right angle and therefore The previously mentioned scaling factors from globe to cylinder are given by Since the meridians are mapped to lines of constant x , we must have x = R ( λ − λ 0 ) and δx  =  Rδλ , ( λ in radians). Therefore, in the limit of infinitesimally small elements Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham CH FRS FBA ( / ˈ n iː d ə m / ; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995)

17135-409: The result that European countries were moved toward the centre of the map. The aspect ratio of his map is ⁠ 198 / 120 ⁠ = 1.65. Even more extreme truncations have been used: a Finnish school atlas was truncated at approximately 76°N and 56°S, an aspect ratio of 1.97. Much Web-based mapping uses a zoomable version of the Mercator projection with an aspect ratio of one. In this case

17284-410: The resulting flat map, as a final step, any pair of circles parallel to and equidistant from the contact circle can be chosen to have their scale preserved, called the standard parallels ; then the region between chosen circles will have its scale smaller than on the sphere, reaching a minimum at the contact circle. This is sometimes visualized as a projection onto a cylinder which is secant to (cuts)

17433-455: The rhumb and the great circle course is negligible. Even for longer distances, the simplicity of the constant bearing makes it attractive. As observed by Mercator, on such a course, the ship would not arrive by the shortest route, but it will surely arrive. Sailing a rhumb meant that all that the sailors had to do was keep a constant course as long as they knew where they were when they started, where they intended to be when they finished, and had

17582-466: The right of the second equation defines the Gudermannian function ; i.e., φ  = gd( ⁠ y / R ⁠ ): the direct equation may therefore be written as y  =  R ·gd( φ ). There are many alternative expressions for y ( φ ), all derived by elementary manipulations. Corresponding inverses are: For angles expressed in degrees: The above formulae are written in terms of

17731-553: The runway's heading : a runway numbered 09 points east (90°), runway 18 is south (180°), runway 27 points west (270°) and runway 36 points to the north (360° rather than 0°). However, due to magnetic declination, changes in runway designators have to occur at times to keep their designation in line with the runway's magnetic heading. An exception is made for runways within the Northern Domestic Airspace of Canada; these are numbered relative to true north because proximity to

17880-553: The same feudal system. Land and property were reallocated first and foremost to the royal family of the new dynasty up until the late Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) when fiefdom land was taken over by warlords and merchants. These limited property rights constrained potential scientific innovations. The Chinese Empire enacted totalitarian control and was able to do so because of its great size. There were smaller independent states that had no choice but to comply with this control. They could not afford to isolate themselves. The Chinese believed in

18029-437: The same isogonic line. In the image at the right, the bezel's N has been aligned with the direction indicated by the magnetic end of the compass needle, adjusted for local declination (10 degrees west of magnetic north). The direction-of-travel arrow on the baseplate thus reflects a true north heading. After determining local declination, a rotating dial compass may be altered to give true north readings by taping or painting

18178-415: The same scale and assembled, they would approximate the Mercator projection. In 1541, Flemish geographer and mapmaker Gerardus Mercator included a network of rhumb lines on a terrestrial globe he made for Nicolas Perrenot . In 1569, Mercator announced a new projection by publishing a large world map measuring 202 by 124 cm (80 by 49 in) and printed in eighteen separate sheets. Mercator titled

18327-688: The social status ladder as opposed to pursuing scientific endeavours. Further the laxity and lack of innovation exhibited by China made her to be surpassed by the growing European levels of technological advancement and innovation. As Landes (2006) puts forward, the Chinese lived as they wanted. They were ruled by an emperor "Son of Heaven" who they termed to be unique, and he was godlike. As he further adds, this emperor had arrogant representatives who were chosen in terms of "competitive examinations in Confucian letters and morals." As explained, these representatives were submissive to their subordinates as they possessed

18476-430: The sphere onto a tangent cylinder along straight radial lines, as if from a light source placed at the Earth's center. Both have extreme distortion far from the equator and cannot show the poles. However, they are different projections and have different properties. As with all map projections , the shapes or sizes are distortions of the true layout of the Earth's surface. The Mercator projection exaggerates areas far from

18625-404: The sphere, though this picture is misleading insofar as the standard parallels are not spaced the same distance apart on the map as the shortest distance between them through the interior of the sphere. The original and most common aspect of the Mercator projection for maps of the Earth is the normal aspect, for which the axis of the cylinder is the Earth's axis of rotation which passes through

18774-414: The style commonly used for hiking (i.e., baseplate or protractor compass) utilize a dial or bezel which rotates 360 degrees and is independent of the magnetic needle. To manually establish a declination for true north, the bezel is rotated until the desired number of degrees lie between the bezel's designation N (for North) and the direction (east or west) of magnetic north indicated by the polarized tip of

18923-493: The threshold of modern industry, had it not been for this stifling state control. It is the State that kills technological progress in China". Meanwhile, the lack of a free market in China escalated to a new affair whereby the Chinese were restricted from carrying trade with foreigners. Foreign trade is a great source of foreign knowledge as well as the capability of acquisition of new products. Foreign trade promotes innovation as well as

19072-475: The time to be western inventions. The first volume eventually appeared in 1954. The publication received widespread acclaim, which intensified to lyricism as the further volumes appeared. He wrote fifteen volumes himself, and the regular production of further volumes continued after his death in 1995. Later, Volume III was divided, so that 27 volumes have now been published. Successive volumes are published as they are completed, which means that they do not appear in

19221-595: The unity of the text, the context of the quotation, and taxonomy in which those fragments are embedded, then reorganize and reinterpret them in a new, Western taxonomy and narrative. Needham used this process of selection and re-assembly to argue for a Chinese tradition of science that did not exist as such. Justin Lin argues against Needham's premise that China's early adoption of modern socioeconomic institutions contributed heavily to its technological advancement. Lin contends that technological advancements at this time were largely separate from economic circumstance, and that

19370-581: The vessel or aircraft. Variation and deviation are signed quantities. As discussed above, positive (easterly) variation indicates that magnetic north is east of geographic north. Likewise, positive (easterly) deviation indicates that the compass needle is east of magnetic north. Compass, magnetic and true bearings are related by: T = M + V M = C + D {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}T&=M+V\\M&=C+D\end{aligned}}} The general equation relating compass and true bearings

19519-446: The well-being of the state as their primary motive for economic activity, and individual initiatives were shunned. There were regulations on the press, clothing, construction, music, birth rates, and trade. The Chinese state controlled all aspects of life, severely limiting any incentives to innovate and to better one's self. "The ingenuity and inventiveness of the Chinese would no doubt have enriched China further and probably brought it to

19668-521: The world use the transverse Mercator, as does the Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system . An oblique Mercator projection tilts the cylinder axis away from the Earth's axis to an angle of one's choosing, so that its tangent or secant lines of contact are circles that are also tilted relative to the Earth's parallels of latitude. Practical uses for the oblique projection, such as national grid systems, use ellipsoidal developments of

19817-416: Was a British biochemist , historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology , initiating publication of the multivolume Science and Civilisation in China . A focus of his was what has come to be called the Needham Question of why and how China had ceded its leadership in science and technology to Western countries. He

19966-475: Was always attracted by pretty women. When he and Lu Gwei-djen met in 1937, they fell deeply in love, which Dorothy accepted. The three of them eventually lived contentedly on the same road in Cambridge for many years. In 1989, two years after Dorothy's death, Needham married Lu, who died two years later. He suffered from Parkinson's disease from 1982, and died at the age of 94 at his Cambridge home. In 2008,

20115-430: Was as Taoist as any in Chinese history, though perhaps its 'state Taoism' would have seemed a corrupt and inauthentic business to Needham. Daiwie Fu , in the essay "On Mengxi bitan' s World of Marginalities and 'South-pointing Needles': Fragment Translation vs. Contextual Tradition", criticises Needham, among other Western scholars, for translations that select fragments deemed “scientific,” usually without appreciating

20264-561: Was awarded the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize by Fukuoka City . The Needham Research Institute in Robinson College in Cambridge, devoted to the study of China's scientific history, was opened in 1985 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Chancellor of Cambridge University . Magnetic declination Magnetic declination (also called magnetic variation ) is the angle between magnetic north and true north at

20413-701: Was awarded the George Sarton Medal by the History of Science Society and in 1966 he became Master of Gonville and Caius College . In 1979, Joseph Needham received the Dexter Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry from the American Chemical Society . In 1984, Needham became the fourth recipient of the J.D. Bernal Award, awarded by the Society for Social Studies of Science. In 1990, he

20562-501: Was blacklisted by the US government until well into the 1970s. In 1965, with Derek Bryan , a retired diplomat whom he first met in China, Needham established the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding , which for some years provided the only way for British subjects to visit the People's Republic of China. On a visit to China in 1964 he was met by Zhou Enlai, and in 1965 stated that "China has

20711-689: Was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941 and a fellow of the British Academy in 1971. In 1992, Queen Elizabeth II conferred on him the Order of the Companions of Honour , and the Royal Society noted he was the only living person to hold these three titles. Needham's father, Joseph, was a doctor, and his mother, Alicia Adelaïde, née Montgomery (1863–1945) , was a music composer from Oldcastle, County Meath, Ireland. His father, born in East London, then

20860-479: Was extended to the new government. During his stay in China, Needham was asked to analyse some cattle cakes that had been scattered by American aircraft in the south of China at the end of World War II, and found they were impregnated with anthrax . During the Korean War he made further accusations that the Americans had used biological warfare . Zhou Enlai coordinated an international campaign to enlist Needham for

21009-464: Was founded on rational argument, and attributed his openness to the religions of other cultures to Barnes as well. In 1914, with the outbreak of World War I , Needham was sent to Oundle School , founded in 1556 in Northamptonshire . He did not enjoy leaving home, but he later described the headmaster Frederick William Sanderson as a "man of genius" and said that without that influence on him at

21158-429: Was given old historical and scientific books which he shipped back to Britain through diplomatic channels. They were to form the foundation of his later research. He got to know Zhou Enlai , first Premier of the People's Republic of China , and met numerous Chinese scholars, including the painter Wu Zuoren , and the meteorologist Zhu Kezhen , who later sent crates of books to him in Cambridge, including 2,000 volumes of

21307-460: Was one degree west (2014), reducing to zero as of early 2020. Reports of measured magnetic declination for distant locations became commonplace in the 17th century, and Edmund Halley made a map of declination for the Atlantic Ocean in 1700. In most areas, the spatial variation reflects the irregularities of the flows deep in the Earth; in some areas, deposits of iron ore or magnetite in

21456-537: Was publicized around 1645 by a mathematician named Henry Bond ( c.  1600 –1678). However, the mathematics involved were developed but never published by mathematician Thomas Harriot starting around 1589. The development of the Mercator projection represented a major breakthrough in the nautical cartography of the 16th century. However, it was much ahead of its time, since the old navigational and surveying techniques were not compatible with its use in navigation. Two main problems prevented its immediate application:

21605-422: Was stated by John Snyder in 1987 to be the same projection as Mercator's. However, given the geometry of a sundial, these maps may well have been based on the similar central cylindrical projection , a limiting case of the gnomonic projection , which is the basis for a sundial. Snyder amended his assessment to "a similar projection" in 1993. Portuguese mathematician and cosmographer Pedro Nunes first described

21754-459: Was the historian Wang Ling , whom he had met in Lizhuang and obtained a position for at Trinity . The first years were devoted to compiling a list of every mechanical invention and abstract idea that had been made and conceived in China. These included cast iron , the ploughshare , the stirrup , gunpowder , printing , the magnetic compass and clockwork escapements, most of which were thought at

21903-534: Was to write a non-ethnocentric account of scientific and cultural history; it aimed to synthesize the contributions, perspectives, and development of oriental nations in the East in a way that was complementary to the Western scientific tradition. This vision was partly influenced by the political climate of the time of its planning in the late 1940s - the "East" and "West" were seen as cultural and political opposites. Working from

22052-467: Was unduly critical of Buddhism , describing it as having 'tragically played a part in strangling the growth of Chinese science,' to which Needham readily conceded in a conversation a few years later. Barrett also criticizes Needham's favoritism and uncritical evaluation of Taoism in Chinese technological history: He had a tendency — not entirely justified in the light of more recent research — to think well of Taoism, because he saw it as playing

22201-467: Was violently overtaken by the exponential growth of modern science after the Renaissance in Europe. China was homeostatic , but never stagnant." Nathan Sivin , one of Needham's collaborators, while agreeing that Needham's achievement was monumental, suggested that the "Needham question", as a counterfactual hypothesis, was not conducive to a useful answer: It is striking that this question – Why didn't

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