Wang Zhenyi
1768 – 1797
Wang Zhenyi was a Chinese astronomer, mathematician, and poet of the Qing dynasty who defied the conventions of her era by educating herself in the sciences. She wrote clear explanations of lunar and solar eclipses, equinoxes, and mathematical methods, and simplified existing texts to make learning accessible. Despite dying at only 29, she left a substantial body of scientific and poetic work.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Wang Zhenyi.
- Alessandro Volta (1745–1827) Overlapped 29 years →
- Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804) Overlapped 29 years →
- Caroline Herschel (1750–1848) Overlapped 29 years →
- Daniel Boone (1734–1820) Overlapped 29 years →
- Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Overlapped 29 years →
- Edward Jenner (1749–1823) Overlapped 29 years →
Life events
Wang Zhenyi was born in 1768 into a scholarly family; her family's ancestral home was in Anhui, and her grandfather and father were both learned men.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWang read widely from her grandfather Wang Zhefu's extensive book collection, learning astronomy from him, poetry from her grandmother, and medicine, geography, and mathematics from her father.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAfter her grandfather's death, Wang lived for a time in Jilin, where she learned equestrian skills, archery, and martial arts from the wife of a Mongolian general, and later traveled widely south of the Yangtze.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgUsing a lamp, a mirror, and a round table in a garden pavilion, Wang modeled the relative positions of the sun, earth, and moon and described the mechanism of lunar eclipses in her article 'The Explanation of a Lunar Eclipse'.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWang wrote a five-volume guide simplifying multiplication and division to make mathematics easier for beginners, among her several mathematical works.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAt the age of 25, Wang married Zhan Mei, and continued her studies, writing, and teaching of male students after her marriage.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWang's writings included commentaries on the Pythagorean theorem and trigonometry, defenses of Copernican-style reasoning about celestial motion, and a collection of poems noted for their directness and social observation.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWang Zhenyi died in 1797, entrusting her manuscripts to her best friend Madam Kuai, whose nephew Qian Yiji later compiled and preserved her works.
Source: en.wikipedia.org