Landscape and Historicity of Korean Science of the Early to Middle Nineteenth Century

Abstract

We can find noteworthy astronomical developments in nineteenth century Korea from the following facts: piecemeal knowledge in the natural sciences as listed in Oju yeonmun jangjeon sango (Random Expatiations of Oju) in the early nineteenth century, Choe Hangi’s writings during the 1830s and 1840s, cosmological discussions of Yi Cheong and Choe Hangi in the midnineteenth century, production and widespread circulation of astronomical charts and world maps such as Honcheonjeondo and Yeojijeondo, and professional studies of astronomy and calendrical science by Nam Byeongcheol and Nam Byeonggil during the 1850s and 1860s. This article aims to explore the comparative differences between the nineteenth century and eighteenth century and the genealogy of scientific knowledge on which the discourses of nineteenth-century Korean Confucian scholars were based. In addition, I want to make a preliminary overview of the representative scientific accomplishments of nineteenth century Korea in the context of the late-nineteenth-century high imperialism, when modern science and technology were rushing into Korea. In conclusion, we can see that most works of astronomical science and the cosmological contemplations of Korean scholars did not deviate from the general paradigm of synthesis between traditional East-Asian science and western science until the late nineteenth century, although they were unique and interesting.