Mei Wending
1633 – 1721
Mei Wending was a Chinese mathematician and astronomer of the early Qing dynasty who worked to reconcile traditional Chinese astronomy and mathematics with the Western methods introduced by Jesuit missionaries. He wrote prolifically on calendrical science and mathematics and argued that Western learning had ancient Chinese origins. His work won the admiration of the Kangxi Emperor and shaped Chinese mathematical scholarship for generations.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Mei Wending.
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- Isaac Newton (1643–1727) Overlapped 78 years →
- Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737) Overlapped 77 years →
- Louis XIV (1638–1715) Overlapped 77 years →
- Pu Songling (1640–1715) Overlapped 75 years →
Life events
Mei Wending was born in 1633 in Xuancheng in present-day Anhui Province, in the final years of the Ming dynasty.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAs a young man Mei studied traditional Chinese calendrical astronomy, reportedly under the Daoist scholar Ni Guanhu, alongside his classical education.
Mei completed an early work on the Datong calendar, beginning a lifetime of scholarship on Chinese and Western calendrical methods.
During a stay in Beijing, Mei was invited to review and comment on the calendrical chapters of the official history of the Ming dynasty then being compiled.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgMei's Lixue yiwen argued that Chinese and Western astronomy could be synthesized, and the work was later presented to the Kangxi Emperor, who read it with approval.
During the emperor's southern tour, Mei Wending was granted personal audiences with the Kangxi Emperor over three days to discuss mathematics and astronomy, an exceptional honor for a commoner scholar.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgMei's grandson Mei Juecheng was summoned to court to work on imperial mathematical compilations, continuing the family's scholarly tradition and later editing his grandfather's collected works.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgMei Wending died in 1721 at the age of about 88; his collected works were later published as the Meishi congshu jiyao by his grandson Mei Juecheng.
Source: en.wikipedia.org