# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/zhang-heng
# Generated: 2026-09-02T06:07:19.569Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/zhang-heng"
name: "Zhang Heng"
slug: "zhang-heng"
description: "A Han dynasty court astronomer who built the first seismoscope — a bronze vessel that could point toward an earthquake five hundred kilometers away before any messenger arrived."
tagline: "Chinese scientist and statesman (78–139)"
image: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/20251004_Tomb_of_Zhang_Heng_03.jpg/330px-20251004_Tomb_of_Zhang_Heng_03.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "China"
  isoCode: "CN"
category:
  name: "Scientists"
  slug: "scientists"
profileType:
  name: "Scientist"
  slug: "scientist"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "78"
deathDate: "139"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           56.39
  momentum:             0.4428156970529852
  historical:           24.046204
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Scientists"
    slug: "scientists"
  - name: "Scientist"
    slug: "scientist"
  - name: "Mathematics"
    slug: "mathematics"
  - name: "Astronomy"
    slug: "astronomy"
  - name: "Poetry"
    slug: "poetry"
  - name: "Philosophy"
    slug: "philosophy"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "Ancient History"
    slug: "ancient-history"
sources:
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    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Zhang%20Heng"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng"
    title: "Zhang Heng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Zhang Heng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "چانق هنق"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Çjan Xen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Джан Хън"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng"
    title: "Zhang Heng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng"
    title: "Zhang Heng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cang_Cheng"
    title: "Čang Cheng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng"
    title: "Zhang Heng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A4%CF%83%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B3%CE%BA_%CE%A7%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%B3%CE%BA"
    title: "Τσανγκ Χενγκ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng"
    title: "Zhang Heng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Zhang Heng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng"
    title: "Zhang Heng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Zhang Heng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng"
    title: "Zhang Heng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng"
    title: "Zhang Heng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Csang_Heng"
    title: "Csang Heng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%89%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%80%D5%A5%D5%B6%D5%A3"
    title: "Չան Հենգ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng"
    title: "Zhang Heng"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://pl.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zhang_Heng"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
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    title: "زانج هينج"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B2%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AC_%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%AC"
    title: "زانج هينج"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Zhang Heng studied in Luoyang and Chang'an, then worked his way from minor civil servant in Nanyang to Chief Astronomer at the imperial court. His refusal to bend on calendrical disputes kept him from becoming Grand Historian, and a feud with palace eunuchs under Emperor Shun drove him out to administer Hejian Kingdom in present-day Hebei. He invented a water-powered armillary sphere to track the stars, refined the inflow water clock, and cataloged twenty-five hundred stars while theorizing that the Moon was a sphere lit by reflected sunlight. His poetry circulated widely; his mechanical ingenuity ran to gears and hydraulics. Recalled to the capital in 138, he died there the following year.