Shen Kuo (131-195), born in Qiantang, Hangzhou (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang), was a scientist and reformer in the Northern Song Dynasty. In his later years, he wrote a notebook masterpiece Mengxi Bi Tan in Mengxi Park, Zhenjiang. A very knowledgeable and accomplished scientist, one of the most outstanding scientists in the history of our country. Proficient in astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, geology, meteorology, geography, agriculture and medicine; He is also an outstanding engineer and an outstanding diplomat.
Shen Kuo was the most knowledgeable scientist in the heyday of ancient science and technology in China (Northern Song Dynasty). His father, Shen Zhou, has always been an official in other places and has been to Sichuan, Fujian, Henan and Jiangsu. Shen Kuo followed his father from childhood, and he was well-informed and knowledgeable. Shenyang has a rich collection of books, and Shen Kuo goes to the study to read books whenever he has time. He reads everything from classics to poetry and prose, from mathematics to geography and water conservancy to the art of war. By the age of 14, he had read all the books at home. Song Xijia was a scholar. He served as the master book of Shuyang County (assistant to the magistrate) and Taishiling. He participated in sorting out salt administration, inspecting water conservancy, serving as a supervisor of the Department of Heaven and a bachelor of Hanlin, and almost arranged scientific affairs in the imperial court at that time, such as revising calendars, improving image observation instruments, promoting water conservancy, making maps, and supervising the manufacture of military equipment. He is very open-minded, diligent in thinking, and can learn from all the experts, such as "visiting the mirror workers", "asking the old musicians in the teaching workshop" and "asking the old doctors". "Wherever he goes, people who live in seclusion in the mountains all ask for visits, and all the medicines and techniques are sincerely obtained" and "inventing textual research and understanding the origin". For example, when he began to study mathematical astronomy in his thirties, he often asked Hu Shuxiu, a female mathematician at that time. Shen Kuo is more than ten years older than her and her husband, and she can still ask questions with such humility, and repeatedly sighs: "Being a man is also a good friend for me." He has great attainments in astronomy, calendar, mathematics, physics, geosciences, biology, chemistry, medicine, water conservancy, military engineering, metallurgy, architecture, literature and history, music and law, etc. There are many famous works such as Meng Xi Bi Tan, Changxing Ji and Su Shen Liang Fang (according to Song Shi Yi Wen Zhi, there are 22 kinds of 155 volumes of his works, but many of them have been lost). Joseph Needham, an expert on the history of Chinese science, praised him as "an expert on China". In Meng Xi Bi Tan, he also recorded many valuable scientific and technological materials, such as Mu Jing (Yu Hao), movable type printing (Bi Yi), water conservancy construction (closure method) and so on. Shen Kuo also demonstrated his talents in politics, military affairs and diplomacy. He took an active part in Wang Anshi's political reform movement. In 175, he sent an envoy to Qidan to refute his claim for land. In 18, he was dragged down and demoted when he fought against Xixia aggression. In 187, he retired to Runzhou (Zhenjiang) Mengxi Park to write the masterpiece Mengxi Bi Tan.