Shizuki Tadao(Chí trúc trung hùng,born 1760,Nagasaki- died August 22, 1806, Nagasaki)was a Japaneseastronomerandtranslatorof European scientific works into Japanese.
Shizuki Tadao | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1760 Nagasaki |
| Died | August 22, 1806(aged 45–46) Nagasaki |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Occupation(s) | Astronomer and translator |
Shizuki was adopted as a child into a family of translators from Dutch to Japanese, and in 1776 Shizuki began working in the family profession; however, in 1777 he stopped working in the family'stsujitradition and began translating and writing commentaries on works ofnatural philosophyindependently. He began using the nameRyuen Nakano,Nakano being his birth family name.
Shizuki apprenticed underRyoei Motoki(who had translated and interpretedCopernicus's works) in Nagasaki, which at that time was a rare hub for Japanese intellectuals to obtain and discuss Western ideas. Motoki and Shizuki collaborated on translations of Dutch scientific treatises, and helped introduce and popularizeNewtonian mechanicsto Japanese scholars, as well as ideas about planetary motion and calendrics ultimately derived from Copernicus andJohannes Kepler.Shizuki's commentaries draw heavily fromJohn Keill's, though Shizuki also generated his own ideas in his commentaries, and sought to reconcile Western philosophies of science with traditionalConfucianmetaphysical ideas. His best-known work wasRekisho Shinsho,orNew Treatise on Calendrical Phenomena,which he completed in 1802 and which was heavily indebted to Keill's works, several of which Shizuki had already translated by that time.
Several of the Japanese terms that Shizuki used in translating Newtonian mechanical ideas, including those forgravityandcentripetal force,were adopted into the Japanese scientific lexicon and remain in common use.
References
edit- Steven L. Renshaw and Saori Ihara, "Shizuki, Tadao". In Virginia Trimble, et al., ed.Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers.Springer, 2007, p. 1056. (Google Books link)