Zeng Gonglian (Tseng Kung-Liang)

SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology, Weapons and armour

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fl. 11th century China

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Chinese writer on chemical subjects.

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In his treatise Wu Jing Zong Yao, compiled with an assistant c. 1040, he wrote down the first formula for gunpowder to be printed and published in any civilization, although the essentials of the mixture had been known in China for just over a century. The text describes several military applications of gunpowder, with an incendiary or, in one case, a toxic chemical rather than an explosive effect; the saltpetre content was too low for the latter, but it was steadily increased over the years.

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Bibliography

c. 1040, Wu Jing Zong Yao.

Further Reading

J.Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986, Vol. V. 7, pp. 117ff.

LRD