Zhao Youqin

Zhao Youqin (born July 26, 1271, Poyang [modern Jiangxi province], China—died c. 1335, Longyou Mountains, Zhejiang province) was a Chinese astronomer, mathematician, and Daoist who calculated the value of π, constructed astronomical instruments, conducted experiments with a camera obscura, and compiled an influential astronomical compendium.

Zhao was one of the patriarchs of the northern branch of the Quanzhen (“Complete Perfection”) sect of Daoism. His astronomical treatise Gexiang xinshu (“New Writing on the Symbol of Alteration”) presents his cosmological theory featuring a flat Earth inside a spherical Heaven, his explanation of the lunar and solar eclipses, and his experiments with a camera obscura to establish the relationship between the luminosity of an image of a source of light and the distance of the source from the pinhole. The book also describes his methods of remote surveying with gnomons to measure the distance from the Earth to the Sun, the Moon, and the stars, as well as his procedure for evaluating π using inscribed regular polygons of 4, 8, …, 16,384 sides. Following Liu Hui (flourished c. 263), this is the second extant Chinese procedure for the evaluation of π. Zhao stated that his goal was to confirm the value 355/113 obtained by Zu Chongzhi (429–500), yet his calculations may have allowed him to prove the validity of the better evaluation 3.1415926 < π < 3.1415927, also obtained by Zu. The second extant book of Zhao, Xian Fo tongyuan (“On the Common Origins of [the Teachings of] Transcendentals and Buddhas”), is devoted to the so-called “Inner Alchemy,” an esoteric discipline focusing on the attainment of immortality via respiratory and meditative practices. He designed several astronomical instruments; he used one of these to measure the difference in right ascension between two celestial bodies and another one to find the angular distance from the celestial north pole to a given star.