Gao, Ce (Author)
Wang, Jian (Author)
Yang, Xiaoming (Author)
Ziran Kexueshi Yanjiu (Studies in the History of Natural Sciences)
Volume: 33
Issue: 4
Pages: 467-478
Gunpowder is regarded as one of the greatest inventions in the history of mankind.Due mainly to the studies from Chinese scholars since the 20 th century,the name of China has been gradually connected with the invention of gunpowder. Among these Chinese scholars,Feng Chiasheng and Wang Ling have been generally accepted as the pioneers in the field of the history of gunpowder in ancient China. In view of the newly discovered firsthand historical materials,however,this paper deems that Cao Huanwen began his research earlier than the study of Feng and Wang,whether about the publication or the reading off of papers. What matters most is that Cao firstly and independently developed the idea which was generally accepted as the basic thesis of the following research since Feng and Wang. The paper states clearly that it was the ancient Chinese medico-alchemists who invented gunpowder. For this conclusion,Cao had made a more justifiable and convincing job. In addition,one of Cao’s manuscript works,Materials of the Complete History of Gunpowder in Ancient China,which it took nearly 20 years to work on,is so far the only discovered writings assembling the research data of the Chinese history of gunpowder. Meanwhile,Cao’s many other ideas could also be the academic works of independent thought,for example,gunpowder was invented during the times of Wei and Jin and was well-known in the Northern and Southern Dynasties,and it was used firstly among the people and then to military purpose,and the dissemination of gunpowder from China to the West via Arabia was due to Mongolia’s "active" imparting.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Brenda J. Buchanan;
(2011)
The Gunpowder Heritage: 'Re-using the Industrial Past'
(/isis/citation/CBB876662754/)
Chapter
Oldman, Elizabeth;
(2007)
Technocrat of Gunpowder and Cannon: Satan's Mechanical Contrivances in Paradise Lost's War in Heaven
(/isis/citation/CBB000760264/)
Book
Tonio Andrade;
(2016)
The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History
(/isis/citation/CBB847607484/)
Chapter
Cheng Zheng;
Xiaoyuan Jiang;
(2021)
Gunpowder and Firearms in Ancient China
(/isis/citation/CBB663227741/)
Book
Xiaoyuan Jiang;
(2021)
A New Phase of Systematic Development of Scientific Theories in China: History of Science and Technology in China Volume 4
(/isis/citation/CBB281376897/)
Chapter
Dalen, Benno van;
(2002)
Islamic and Chinese Astronomy under the Mongols: a Little-Known Case of Transmission
(/isis/citation/CBB000203440/)
Book
Sonja Brentjes;
Jürgen Renn;
(2016)
Globalization of Knowledge in the Post-Antique Mediterranean, 700-1500
(/isis/citation/CBB719775288/)
Book
Gan, Fuxi;
Brill, Robert H.;
Tian, Shouyun;
(2009)
Ancient Glass Research along the Silk Road
(/isis/citation/CBB001250391/)
Article
Mohammadifar, Shamameh;
(2011)
The Origin, History and Trade Route of Cinnamon
(/isis/citation/CBB001510325/)
Article
Boomgaard, Peter;
(2008)
Technologies of a Trading Empire: Dutch Introduction of Water- and Windmills in Early-Modern Asia, 1650s--1800
(/isis/citation/CBB000850073/)
Article
Borisov, V. P.;
(2012)
The Father of Television under FBI Surveillance: The Scientist and Inventor V. K. Zworykin in the 1940s
(/isis/citation/CBB001211417/)
Book
Marco Formisano;
Hartmut Böhme;
(2011)
War in Words: Transformations of War from Antiquity to Clausewitz
(/isis/citation/CBB645658776/)
Article
Wagner, Donald B.;
(2005)
Thematic Issue: Cannons, Gunpowder, Artillery, Military Modernization and Technology in the Medieval Period
(/isis/citation/CBB000600491/)
Book
Adrienne Mayor;
(2018)
Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines, and Ancient Dreams of Technology
(/isis/citation/CBB892284362/)
Book
Georgia L. Irby-Massie;
(2016)
A Companion to Science, Technology, and Medicine in Ancient Greece and Rome
(/isis/citation/CBB767401401/)
Book
Fagan, Brian M.;
(2004)
The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World
(/isis/citation/CBB000650430/)
Book
Giovanni Di Pasquale;
(2019)
Le macchine nel mondo antico: Dalle civiltà mesopotamiche a Roma imperiale
(/isis/citation/CBB901684104/)
Book
Cuomo, Serafina;
(2007)
Technology and Culture in Greek and Roman Antiquity
(/isis/citation/CBB000830134/)
Article
Lü, Daoen;
(2013)
A New Study on the Invention of Photo-Zincography and Photo-Lithography and Their First Introduction to China
(/isis/citation/CBB001200175/)
Article
Brenda J. Buchanan;
(2014)
Gunpowder Studies at ICOHTEC
(/isis/citation/CBB430884631/)
Tarikh-e Elm (The Iranian Journal for the History of Science)
VIET: Voprosy Istorii Estestvoznaniia i Tekhniki
Indian Journal of History of Science
History and Technology
Chinese Journal for the History of Science and Technology
Be the first to comment!