Chinese Scientists Celebrate 400th Anniversary of Translation of Euclid's Elements

November 19, 2007

Last month in Shanghai, scientists commemorated the 400th anniversary of the publication in Chinese of the first six volumes of Euclid's Elements. They also explored the remarkable legacy of the translator, Xu Guangqi.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Shanghai Xuhui District Government, and the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences hosted the special international conference devoted to the life and work of a Xu Guangqi (1562–1633), considered a pre-eminent scholar, experimentalist, and humanist from the late Ming Dynasty.

In 1600, Xu met Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit in China who had been a student of mathematician Christopher Clavius. The two hit it off, and they came to realize that planar geometry and other higher mathematical concepts then unknown in China were essential to progress. Xu and Ricci collaborated to produce a translation of Euclid's Elements.

During his lengthy career, Xu also focused on agriculture, disseminating hardier crops, experimenting with yams imported from South America as a high-energy crop, and devising dams and canals for irrigation. He launched a decade-long effort to improve the accuracy of the Chinese calendar by incorporating a more precise knowledge of celestial geometry. He trained imperial soldiers to use a newfangled device from Europe — the cannon.

Xu's legacy is that "he forged a dialogue between the West and China," said Li Tiangang of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Source: Science, Nov. 2, 2007.