Qing · Scientist, Mathematician, and Engineer

Hua Hengfang 華蘅芳

Attested AD 1850 - AD 1861

Passages: 3
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Hua Hengfang was a Scientist, Mathematician, and Engineer.

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 1861 咸豐十一年
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 505, passages 239-240
AD 1850 to AD 1861 道、咸間
Strongly inferred · Draft History of Qing 505, passages 233, 235

Places and affiliations

At Jingui 金匱
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 505, passage 235

Events and relationships

Calculated steam engine
Technical · Calculator · bore heaviest share of steamship labor · With Xu Shou (徐壽), Wu Jialian (吳嘉廉), Gong Yuntang (龔芸棠)
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 505, passage 240
Translated Western books
Scholarly · Translator · With Xu Shou (徐壽)
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 505, passage 247
Relation Colleague of · Person Xu Shou (徐壽)
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 505, passage 235

References in the histories

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 505Volume 505 Biographies 292: Yi Shu Si · 3 passages

壽與金匱華蘅芳討論搜求，始得十一，苦心研索，每以意求之，而得其真。 Shou and Hua Hengfang of Jingui debated and hunted for answers together. At first they could verify scarcely one claim in ten, yet through relentless study—often reasoning their way forward by sheer intuition—they arrived at the truth.

壽與蘅芳及吳嘉廉、龔芸棠試造木質輪船，推求動理，測算汽機，蘅芳之力為多； Shou, Hengfang, Wu Jialian, and Gong Yuntang attempted to build a wooden steamship, working out the laws of motion and calculating the steam engine—Hengfang bore the heaviest share of that labor;

於是聘西士偉力亞利、傅蘭雅、林樂知、金楷理等，壽與同志華蘅芳、李鳳苞、王德均、趙元益孳孳研究，先後成書數百種。 Western scholars Alexander Wylie, John Fryer, Young J. Allen, and Cornelius Keng were hired; Shou labored alongside Hua Hengfang, Li Fengbao, Wang Dejun, and Zhao Yuanyi, and together they eventually turned out several hundred volumes.