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Song I-yeong
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Song I-yeong (Korean송이영; Hanja宋以潁; MRSong Iyŏng,[2] 1619–?) was a Korean court astronomer of the Joseon dynasty. He invented a weight-powered astronomical clock (possibly the Honcheonsigye) and contributed greatly to the implementation of the Shixian Calendar (from Qing China) in Joseon. He also made systematic observations of two comets.[1]

Key Information

Armillary clock

[edit]
The Honcheonsigye.

In 1659, during the reign of King Hyeonjong, Song I-yeong made an astronomical clock by combining an armillary sphere, long used in East Asia, with the western alarm clock. The result was a device that could both trace the movements of the sun and the moon, as well as display and announce the time.[3]

The clock was repaired in 1687–1688, after which it disappeared from historical records. In the 1930s, Kim Seong-su purchased the honcheonsigye, which is still housed at Korea University.[3] The historian of science Jeon Sang-woon (전상운, 全相運), who examined the device in 1962, assumed that it was Song I-yeong's device, and the British historian of science Joseph Needham adopted this view.[4] However, Gari Ledyard[5] and O Sang-hak (오상학) have separately argued that the object dates from much later.[6]

References

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