1088

Centuries:	10th century - 11th century - 12th century
Decades:	1050s 1060s 1070s - 1080s - 1090s 1100s 1110s
Years:	1085 1086 1087 - 1088 - 1089 1090 1091

1088 by topic
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The Dream Pool Essays is published in this year by the polymath Chinese scientist and statesman Shen Kuo. His book represents the earliest known writing about the magnetic compass, movable type printing, experimentation with the camera obscura only decades after Ibn al-Haytham, and includes many different fields of study in essay and encyclopedic form, including geology, astronomy, botany, zoology, mineralogy, anatomy, pharmacology, geography, optics, economics, military strategy, philosophy, etc. Some of Shen's most advanced theories include geomorphology and gradual climate change, while he improves Chinese astronomy by fixing the position of the pole star and correcting the lunar error by plotting its orbital course every night for a continuum of five years. Shen's book is also the first to describe the drydock in China, and discusses the advantages of the relatively recent invention of the canal pound lock over the old flash lock.
The Chinese polymath statesman and scientist Su Song has the successful pilot model for his astronomical clock tower constructed in Kaifeng, China. It features an escapement mechanism and the world's oldest known endless power-transmitting chain drive to operate the armillary sphere, opening doors, and mechanical-driven manikins that would rotate in shifts to announce the time on plaques.