He Chengtian (何承天)

Overview

The translated histories identify He Chengtian as an astronomer, official, scholar, and scientist. This record brings together 6 passages from 5 chapters across 4 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	He Chengtian	何承天	He Chengtian
Given	Chengtian	承天	Chéngtiān
Surname	He	何	Hé
Personal name	He Chengtian	何承天	Hé Chéngtiān
Personal	He Chengtian	何承天

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · liaoshi:042:s0220, liaoshi:044:s0007, songshi:076:s0063
Sex: male
Explicit · songshu:055:s0222

Roles

Astronomer
Official
Scholar
Scientist

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 元嘉 · Reign Id: liu-song-yuanjia · Western Interval: Start: AD 424 · End: AD 453
Explicit event contextual date · liaoshi:044:s0007, liaoshi:044:s0008
Source Date: Text: 何承天作歷法時代 · Western Year: c. AD 443
Explicit event contextual date · beiqishu:049:s0045
Source Date: Text: 元嘉 · Western Interval: Start: AD 424 · End: AD 453
Explicit · songshu:055:s0222
Source Date: Text: 宋 · Western Interval: Start: AD 420 · End: AD 479
Explicit event contextual date · songshi:076:s0063
Source Date: Text: 梁武帝天監三年 · Western Year: AD 504
Explicit · liaoshi:042:s0220

Places and affiliations

Polity Id: liu-song · Relation: served
Strongly inferred · liaoshi:044:s0007
Polity Id: liu-song · Relation: served
Explicit · songshi:076:s0063

Works and attributed material

Work: He Chengtian's calendar / 何承天歷 · Relation: author
Explicit · liaoshi:042:s0220
Work: Yuanjia Calendar / 元嘉曆 · Relation: author
Explicit · liaoshi:044:s0007

Events and relationships

Kind: scholarly · Role: observer · Action: erected-gnomon-found-Jingchu-lag
Explicit · songshi:076:s0063
Kind: scholarly · Role: calendar-author · Action: formulated-eclipse-and-intercalation-rules · Statement: Placed solar eclipses on month-end or month-begin and required seven intercalary months in every era
Explicit · liaoshi:044:s0008
Relation: methodological-counterpart-of · Person Id: Zu Chongzhi (祖沖之)
Explicit · liaoshi:044:s0007, liaoshi:044:s0008, liaoshi:044:s0009

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: calendar-erroneous-and-unusable · Provenance: Mode: named-source-report · Speaker Person Id: Heng (恒)
Explicit · liaoshi:042:s0220

Source notes

Historicity: historical
Explicit · liaoshi:044:s0007

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Book of Northern Qi, Chapter 49Volume 49 Biographies 41: Arts · 1 passage

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芳又私撰歷書，名為《靈憲歷》，算月有頻大頻小，食必以朔，證據甚甄明，每云：「何承天亦為此法，不能精，靈憲若成，必當百代無異議。」 His private Spiritual Constitution Calendar tracked the moon’s varying size and fixed eclipses at new moon with rare clarity. “He Chengtian tried this but lacked precision,” he said; “finish this calendar and posterity will not quarrel.”

History of Liao, Chapter 42Volume 42 Treatises 12: Celestial Phenomena 1 · 1 passage

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梁武帝天監三年，沖之子恒上疏，論何承天歷乖謬不可用。 In Tianjian 3 (504), during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang, Zu Chongzhi's son Heng memorialized that He Chengtian's calendar was erroneous and unusable.

History of Liao, Chapter 44Volume 44 Treatises 14: Celestial Phenomena 3 · 2 passages

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遼初用《乙未元曆》，本何承天《元嘉曆》法，後用《大明曆》，本祖沖之《甲子元曆》法。 The Liao first adopted the 《Yiwei Origin Calendar》, derived from He Chengtian's 《Yuanjia Calendar》, and later the 《Daming Calendar》, derived from Zu Chongzhi's 《Jiazi Origin Calendar》.

承天日食晦朏，一章必七閏； He Chengtian placed eclipses on month-end or month-begin and required seven intercalary months in every era;

History of Song, Chapter 76Volume 76 Treatises 29: Measures and Calendar 9 · 1 passage

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宋何承天始立表候日景，十年間，知冬至比舊用《景初曆》常後天三日。 Under the Song, He Chengtian first erected a gnomon to observe solar shadows; within ten years he found that winter solstice by the old Jingchu Calendar regularly lagged the heavens by three days.

Book of Song, Chapter 55Volume 55 Biographies 15: Zang Dao, Xu Guang, F Long · 1 passage

Open chapter

臧燾、徐廣、傅隆、裴松之、何承天、雷次宗，並服膺聖哲，不為雅俗推移，立名於世，宜矣。 Zang Dao, Xu Guang, Fu Long, Pei Songzhi, He Chengtian, and Lei Cizong all devoted themselves to the sages, were not swayed by fashion, and won renown in their age — as was only fitting.