Ancient Chinese Silk Road Compass
200 BCE – 100 CE
The world's first magnetic compass — a lodestone spoon balanced on a polished bronze plate — was invented in Han Dynasty China, enabling the Silk Road trade network and eventually European ocean exploration.
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Seismoscope of Zhang Heng
132 CE
Zhang Heng's bronze seismoscope of 132 CE could detect earthquakes hundreds of kilometres away — 1,700 years before Western seismology was developed.
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