沈括的一生行迹（1031-1095）
沈括，字存中，杭州钱塘人，北宋杰出科学家、政治家。博学多才，于天文、数学、物理、化学、地理、医学无所不通，著有《梦溪笔谈》，被誉为"中国科学史上的里程碑"。曾参与王安石变法，后遭贬谪。
杭州（1031） · 钱塘少时
宋仁宗天圣九年，沈括出生于杭州钱塘县，其父沈周曾任太常寺少卿。沈括自幼随父辗转各地任所，见闻广博。少年时即对天文历法产生浓厚兴趣，常独自观察星象，记录天象变化，为日后的科学成就奠定基础。
开封（1063） · 入仕从政
宋仁宗嘉祐八年，沈括进士及第，授扬州司理参军。此后历任多处地方官职，每到一处均留心考察当地地理物产。他在沭阳县任主簿时，主持疏浚沭水，修筑百渠九堰，使两岸良田得到灌溉，受到百姓爱戴。
开封（1072） · 变法干将
宋神宗熙宁五年，沈括被召入京，参与王安石变法，任提举司天监，主持天文历法改革。他改进浑天仪等天文仪器，编修《奉元历》，在数学上首创"隙积术"和"会圆术"，开创了中国数学研究的新领域。
开封（1075） · 出使辽国
宋神宗熙宁八年，沈括奉命出使辽国，就边界争端进行谈判。沈括在出发前仔细研究了大量地理文献和历史档案，掌握了充分的证据。在辽国朝堂上，他与辽方官员反复辩论，据理力争，最终使辽国放弃了无理的领土要求，维护了宋朝的疆域完整。
延安（1080） · 出使辽国
宋神宗元丰三年，沈括出知延州（今延安），兼鄜延路经略安抚使，负责西北边防。在延州期间，他深入考察了当地的石油资源，在《梦溪笔谈》中首次记录了"石油"这一名称，并预言"此物后必大行于世"。
开封（1082） · 出使辽国
宋神宗元丰五年，因永乐城之败，沈括被贬为均州团练副使。此前沈括虽未直接参与永乐城之战，但作为鄜延路经略使负有领导责任。此次贬谪对沈括打击甚大，但他并未消沉，反而在困境中继续科学研究。
润州（1088） · 梦溪著书
宋哲宗元祐三年，沈括定居润州（今镇江），在梦溪园中潜心著述。他将自己一生的科学观察和研究成果写成《梦溪笔谈》二十六卷，内容涵盖天文、数学、物理、化学、生物、地理、医学等诸多领域，被誉为中国科学史上的百科全书。
润州（1095） · 梦溪著书
宋哲宗绍圣二年，沈括病逝于润州梦溪园，享年六十五岁。他晚年所撰《梦溪笔谈》成为不朽之作，英国学者李约瑟称之为"中国科学史上的里程碑"，其中记载的活字印刷术、磁偏角发现、石油命名等，均为世界科学史上的重要贡献。
The Life Journey of Shen Kuo, the Song Dynasty Leonardo
Shen Kuo (1031-1095), of Qiantang, was the most complete scientific mind China produced before the modern age: astronomer (he rebuilt the observatory and reformed the calendar), mathematician (the 'gap accumulation' and 'circle-measuring' methods), diplomat (he outfaced the Liao over the border for six rounds of argument), engineer, administrator — and, ruined by a lost border war, he retired to the Dream Brook garden at Zhenjiang and wrote the Brush Talks from Dream Brook, twenty-six books of observation. Needham called it 'a landmark in the history of science in China.'
Timeline of the Journey
- 1031 · Hangzhou — Born at Qiantang, carried from post to post on his father's career: the boy who watched the stars on his own account and noted down everything else besides.
- 1063 · Kaifeng — The jinshi degree, then county posts: at Shuyang he dredged the Shu river and built a hundred channels and nine dams — the engineer's habit of fixing whatever he was set over.
- 1072 · Kaifeng — Summoned into the Xining reforms as director of the Astronomy Bureau: instruments rebuilt, the Fengyuan calendar reformed — and in pure mathematics, the 'accumulation of gaps' and 'circle measurement' methods: two original results.
- 1075 · The Liao Court — The embassy to the Liao over the border: archives memorized, maps prepared, six rounds of argument on their floor — and the Liao claim abandoned. The scientist as diplomat, unbeaten.
- 1080 · Yanzhou — Commissioner of the northern front at Yanzhou: garrisons, defenses — and the oil seeps of Shaanbei, named 'stone oil' (shiyou) in his notebook, with the prophecy: 'this substance will one day be greatly used by the world.'
- 1082 · Kaifeng — The disaster at Yongle City: the defeat he did not direct but commanded too near. Stripped and exiled to Junzhou — and the observations continuing in adversity.
- 1088 · Runzhou — Settled at the Dream Brook garden in Zhenjiang: the Brush Talks written — astronomy, mathematics, magnetism (the declination of the compass, first in the world), movable type, biology, cartography, the oil, everything — twenty-six volumes of the century's mind.
- 1095 · Runzhou — Dead at sixty-five at Dream Brook. 'A landmark in the history of science in China' — and the only such landmark with a garden's name.
'This substance will one day be greatly used by the world.' Nine hundred years before the oil age, a dismissed official at a garden pond wrote the prophecy down — Shen Kuo is China's proof that one curious mind can out-see an empire.
