Wang Fan (228–266),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Yongyuan, was a Chinese astronomer, mathematician, politician, and writer of the state of

Eastern Wu Wu ( Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' <

Eastern Han Chinese

: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in h ...

during the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...

period of China.

Life

Wang Fan was from Lujiang Commandery (), which is located southwest of present-day

Lujiang County Lujiang County () is a county of Anhui Province, East China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Hefei, the capital of Anhui. It is the southernmost county-level division under the jurisdiction of the provincial capita ...

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

. He started his career in Wu as a Gentleman of Writing () during the reign of the first Wu emperor

Sun Quan Sun Quan (, Chinese: 孫權) (183 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of the Eastern Wu dynasty, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime es ...

or second Wu emperor

Sun Liang Sun Liang (245–260), courtesy name Ziming, was the second emperor of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the youngest son and heir of Sun Quan, the founding emperor of Wu. He is also known as the Prince of ...

, but was dismissed from office. During the reign of the third Wu emperor

Sun Xiu Sun Xiu (235 – 3 September 264), courtesy name Zilie, formally known as Emperor Jing of Wu, was the third emperor of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Early life Sun Xiu was born in 235 to Wu's founding emper ...

, Wang Fan served as a Central Regular Mounted Attendant () alongside

He Shao He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

Xue Ying Xue Ying (died 282), courtesy name Daoyan, was a Chinese historian, poet, and politician of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280) of China. After the fall of Wu, he continued serving under the Jin dynasty (266–4 ...

and

Yu Si Yu Si (218 - 271), courtesy name Shihong, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Life Yu Si was the fourth son of Yu Fan, an official who served under Sun Quan, the f ...

, and was given an additional appointment as a Chief Commandant of Escorting Cavalry (). He received much praise from his contemporaries. When the Wu government sent him as an ambassador to Wu's ally state, Shu, he was also highly regarded by the Shu government. Upon returning to Wu, he served as a military supervisor at the Wu military garrison in Xiakou (). During the reign of the fourth and last Wu emperor

Sun Hao Sun Hao (243 – January or February 284), courtesy name Yuanzong, originally named Sun Pengzu with the courtesy name Haozong, was the fourth and last emperor of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the son ...

, Wang Fan became a Regular Attendant () alongside Wan Yu. Although he was initially close to Sun Hao, he gradually became alienated from the emperor as other officials slandered him in front of the emperor and as he became more outspoken against the emperor's outrageous behaviour. In 266, he offended Sun Hao and ended up losing his head. Sun Hao also exiled his family to the remote Guang Province in the south.

Lu Kai Lu Kai (198 – December 269 or January 270), courtesy name Jingfeng, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Born in the influential Lu clan of the Wu region toward ...

, the Imperial Chancellor of Wu during Sun Hao's reign, lamented Wang Fan's unfortunate end. Wang Fan had two brothers, Wang Zhu () and Wang Yan (), who were also well-known learned men in Wu. Both of them were killed during a rebellion started by

Guo Ma Guo Ma ( 279) was a military general of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. In 279, Guo and his colleagues rebelled in Guangzhou following the death of their superior, Xiu Yun (修允 or 脩允). His rebellion later coincided with the ...

in 279, which was one of the events leading to the fall of Wu in 280.

Contributions to mathematics and astronomy

Wang Fan was proficient in mathematics and astronomy. He calculated the distance from the Sun to the Earth, but his

geometric model __NOTOC__ Geometric modeling is a branch of applied mathematics and computational geometry that studies methods and algorithms for the mathematical description of shapes. The shapes studied in geometric modeling are mostly two- or three-dimensio ...

was not correct. In addition, he gave the numerical value of π as 142 / 45 = 3.155…, which was not as accurate as that given by the mathematician

Liu Hui Liu Hui () was a Chinese mathematician who published a commentary in 263 CE on ''Jiu Zhang Suan Shu (The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art).'' He was a descendant of the Marquis of Zixiang of the Eastern Han dynasty and lived in the state o ...

, who lived around the same time as him.

References

* Chen, Shou (3rd century). ''

Records of the Three Kingdoms The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220– ...

'' (''Sanguozhi''). * Pei, Songzhi (5th century). ''

Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms () by Pei Songzhi (372-451) is an annotation completed in the 5th century of the 3rd century historical text ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', compiled by Chen Shou. After leaving his native land, Pei ...

'' (''Sanguozhi zhu''). * . * . {{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Fan 228 births 266 deaths 3rd-century executions 3rd-century Chinese mathematicians Ancient Chinese astronomers Ancient Chinese mathematicians Eastern Wu politicians Eastern Wu writers Executed Eastern Wu people Executed people from Anhui Executed Three Kingdoms people Mathematicians from Anhui People executed by a Three Kingdoms state by decapitation People executed by Eastern Wu Politicians from Hefei Writers from Anhui

Life

Contributions to mathematics and astronomy

See also

References