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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Eclipses in Ancient China Spurred Science, Beheadings?


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Imperial Chinese watch and revere a solar eclipse in an illustration from The History of China and India by Julia Corner.

A total solar eclipse will be visible in parts of China on August 1, 2008.

The Chinese have chronicled solar eclipses for more than four millennia, with myths, politics, and possibly a fear of beheading driving the earliest innovations in prediction techniques.

Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/Getty Images