Song I-yeong

Song I-yeong (Korean: 송이영; Hanja: 宋以潁[2]; MR: Song I-yǒng, 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]

Song I-yeong
Born1619
Died1692 or before 1687[1]
Spouse(s)Lady Jo (趙氏[1])
ChildrenSong Gyeong-sim (宋慶心[1])
Song Gyeong-yun (宋慶胤[1])
Song Gyeong-yeom (宋慶濂[1])
Parents
  • Song Jeong-su (宋庭修[1]) (father)
  • Lady Gim (金氏[1]) (mother)

Armillary clock
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
  1. Sang Hyuk Kim (김상혁); Byeong-hee Mihn (민병희); Yoon-kyung Seo (서윤경); Yong Sam Lee (이용삼) (2018). "송이영(宋以頴)의 생애와 천문업적" [Life and Astronomical Contribution of Song, I-yeong] (PDF). Publications of the Korean Astronomical Society (in Korean). pp. 31–44. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  2. Yu Gyeongro (유경로) (1996). "송이영(宋以潁)". Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (in Korean). Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  3. Kim, Sang Hyuk; Lee, Yong Sam (2015). "Song I-Yeong's Armillary Clock" (PDF). In Ruggles, Clive L.N. (ed.). Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy. Springer. pp. 2179–2195. ISBN 978-1-4614-6140-1. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  4. Needham, Joseph (1986). The Hall of Heavenly Records: Korean astronomical instruments and clocks, 1380-1780. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 110-151.
  5. Ledyard, Gary (1994). "Cartography in Korea". In Hartley, J.B.; Woodward, David (eds.). The History of Cartography, Vol.2, book 2: Cartography in the Traditional East and Southeast Asian Societies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 249-253.
  6. O, Sanghag (2011). Joseon Sidae Segye Jido Wa Segye Insig 조선 시대 세계 지도 와 세계 인식 (Joseon World Maps and Knowledge of the World). Paju 파주: Changbi 창비. p. 193-202.
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