祖冲之的天文历法工作———纪念祖冲之逝世1500年

Zu Chongzhi's Works on Astronomy and Calendar Making——in Memorial of the 1500th Anniversary of Zu's Death

祖冲之的大明历是中国古代最具创新内容的历法之一 ,岁差的引入、闰周的革新、回归年长度的新测以及冬至时刻测量法的确立 ,是其最重要的贡献。祖冲之注重实测、勤于思考、善于汲取前人成果、勇于同守旧思想进行斗争的事实 ,确然载于史籍 ,这些正是他多所创新、成绩卓著的重要原因。本文即述此因与果 ,以作为对一代科学伟人祖冲之的纪念。

The Daming Calendar made by Zu Chongzhi is one of the most innovative calendar in ancient China, with the introduction of precession, the reform on the cycle of intercalary months, the newly measurement of length of tropical year and the establishment of the method of measuring the time of winter solstice being the most important contributions. The facts that he looked high on actual measurement, was industrious at thinking, good at using predecessor's achievements and brave to struggle against fogeyish thought, all of which are all recorded in historical books, are important cause for his making a lot of innovation and obtaining so many achievements. In memorial of the great man of science, this article gives accounts on the causes and results of all that stated above.