High Middle Ages · East Asia · Technology
1090
Su Song Completes His Astronomical Clock Tower
1090
In Kaifeng, the engineer Su Song finished constructing a water-powered astronomical clock tower standing forty feet tall. Its three levels housed an armillary sphere for observation, a celestial globe tracking planetary motions, and wooden automata that struck the hours and displayed plaques announcing the time. An endless chain drive - the world's first - linked the mechanism. The clock ran continuously for thirty-five years before Jurchen invaders dismantled it and carted it north.
In context
Also in 1090 (3 other events on record)
- Hassan-i Sabbah takes Alamut · Middle East · Religion
- Chinese Maritime Compass Approaches Practical Use · East Asia · Technology
- Bernard of Clairvaux born in Burgundy · Europe · Religion
Before and after in East Asia
Before and after in Technology
Era
High Middle Ages (1000–1300), one of 1,306 events from that era on Saeculum.
Sources