The world's first instrument to measure earthquakes was invented by Zhang Heng of China during the Eastern Han Dynasty.
I, geodesic instrument is one of the world's greatest masterpieces created by scientists from the Eastern Han Dynasty in the ancient Chinese period, was invented and manufactured by Zhang Heng in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng in the Eastern Han Dynasty is known as one of the four Han Fu, but also the Eastern Han Dynasty's greatest astronomers, inventors, served in a number of positions, AD 139 years died, when Zhang Heng in the East Han period often occurring earthquakes, Zhang Heng himself has a lot of personal experience of earthquakes, so he was in order to grasp the state of the East Han nationwide earthquakes, after a long period of research and finally in 132 AD, the invention of the geodesic instrument, which is the world's first invention of the first geodesic instrument, with a very important significance.
Two, Zhang Heng invented the geodesic instrument is made of copper, the shape from a distance is like a wine bottle, in this four weeks has eight dragon heads, respectively, to the east, south, west, north, and southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest *** eight directions, each dragon head's mouth is movable, in the dragon mouth are contained inside a small copper ball, in the the bottom of each dragon's head there is also a copper toad with its mouth open, and in the central part of the interior of the apparatus there is a copper pendulum with a pendant, and beside the columns there are eight passages respectively, which in those days were called the eight paths, and a variety of ingenious mechanisms.
Three, when an earthquake occurs in a certain place, the pendant pendulum will rattle the small ball next to it, through the eight channels to touch the mechanism, which will make the dragon head in the direction of the earthquake to open its own mouth, spit out the copper ball in its mouth, and fall into the mouth of the toad underneath, and at the same time will also emit a big sound, at this time people can know in the Where an earthquake occurred, in 134 A.D. at the time of the earthquake in western Gansu, through this instrument completely proved the accuracy of this instrument, and this invention is also earlier than the European invention of seismographs more than 1,700 years, has a very important historical significance.