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Star map by Su Song
Star map by Su Song

Su Song (10201101 AD) was a renowned Chinese statesman, astronomer, cartographer, horologist, pharmacologist, mineralogist, zoologist, botanist, mechanical and architectural engineer, and ambassador of the Song Dynasty.

Su Song was the engineer of a water-driven astronomical clock tower in medieval Kaifeng depicted in his horological treatise, Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao, which employed the use of an early escapement mechanism, armillary sphere and the oldest known endless power-transmitting chain drive, called the tian ti, or "celestial ladder". He also completed a large celestial atlas of several star maps, several terrestrial maps, as well as a treatise on pharmacology.