简介：TheemergenceofZhangHeng’sseismoscopehasaprofoundhistoricalbackground.ThispaperintendstoexploretheformationandmaterialbasisofZhangHeng’sscientificthought.Itappearsthatthesimpleintentionof"observingvisionsanddistinguishinggoodfortuneormisfortune"washismotivationtodeveloptheseismoscope.Tracingitshistoricalbackground,theauthorsproposedinthispaperthatthedevelopmentofthisseismoscopestartedaround128A.D.,andbasedonperceptualknowledge,twoideasaboutearthquakescameintobeing,i.e.,earthquakelocationcouldbejudgedaccordingtotheinstrumentshakingdirection,andtheearthquakeandearthsplitwereessentiallydifferent.Intheinstrumentmanufacture,ZhangHengadvocatedaprincipleof"makingutensilstoimitatecosmos".Bythisprinciple,thefollowingthreeproblemswerereadilysolved:theseismoscopeimitatedtheresponseofthesuspensionsystemtoearthquakes(i.e.naturalseismoscope).Technically,thetriggermechanismofthelatchwasusedforreference,anditrecordedthephysicalevidenceofearthquakeoccurrencebyaningeniouswayofaballdroppingfromadragon’smouth.Thesolutionofthesethreekeyproblemsleadtotheemergenceoftheseismoscopein132A.D.andthesuccessfuldetectionofanearthquakein134A.D.Hisinventiondeepenedhumanity’sknowledgeofnaturallaws,andpromotedthedevelopmentofscienceandtechnologyinthattimeandlater.