[Wikipedia] October 28: Shen Kuo

[Faraaz Damji]

  Shen Kuo was a polymath Chinese scientist and statesman of the Song
  Dynasty (960–1279).  Excelling in many fields of study and statecraft,
  he was a mathematician, astronomer, meteorologist, geologist,
  zoologist, botanist, pharmacologist, agronomist, ethnographer,
  encyclopedist, and poet.  He was the head official for the Bureau of
  Astronomy in the Song court, as well as an Assistant Minister of
  Imperial Hospitality.  In his Dream Pool Essays of 1088, Shen was the
  first to describe the magnetic needle compass, which would be used for
  navigation (first described in Europe by Alexander Neckam in 1187).
  Shen Kuo devised a geological theory of land formation, or
  geomorphology, based upon findings of inland marine fossils, knowledge
  of soil erosion, and the deposition of silt.  He also advocated a
  theory for gradual climate change, after observing ancient petrified
  bamboos that were preserved underground in a dry northern habitat that
  did not support their growth in his time.  Shen Kuo wrote extensively
  about movable type printing invented by Bi Sheng, and because of his
  written works the legacy of Bi Sheng and the modern understanding of
  the earliest movable type has been handed down to later generations.

Read the rest of this article:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Kuo


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Today's selected anniversaries:

312:
  Constantine the Great defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the
  Milvian Bridge in Rome, leading him to end the Tetrarchy and become
  the only ruler of the Roman Empire.
  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Milvian_Bridge)

1886:
  In New York Harbor, U.S. President Grover Cleveland dedicated the
  Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, to commemorate the centennial
  of the United States Declaration of Independence.
  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty)

1940:
  The Balkans Campaign in World War II: Italy invaded Greece after
  Greek prime minister Ioannis Metaxas rejected Italian dictator Benito
  Mussolini's ultimatum demanding the occupation of Greek territory.
  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Italian_War)

1954:
  The Kingdom of the Netherlands was re-founded as a federacy with the
  proclamation of the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_the_Netherlands)

1965:
  Nostra Aetate, the "Declaration on the Relation of the Church with
  Non-Christian Religions" of the Second Vatican Council, was
  promulgated by Pope Paul VI, absolving the Jews of the killing of
  Jesus, and calling for increased relations with all non-Christian
  religions.
  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostra_Aetate)


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Wiktionary's Word of the day:

  retinue: A group of servants or attendants, especially of someone
  considered important.
  (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/retinue)


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Wikiquote of the day:

  I have dreams, and I have nightmares.  I overcame the nightmares
  because of my dreams.  -- Jonas Salk
  (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonas_Salk)