The periodic table of elements is a basic knowledge used in chemistry-related subjects, just like words in Chinese, various numbers and symbols in mathematics, and English letters in English. Moreover, the periodic table of elements was summarized by the Russian chemist Mendeleev in 1869. But many people have discovered that the characters in the names of the princes of the Ming Dynasty are highly consistent with various elements in the periodic table. Why is this? Is there any connection between the two?
1. The names of the princes of the Ming Dynasty
In the feudal era, although the naming of royal family members was very particular and elegant, it was the same as the basic rules followed by most ordinary people in China: Last name + seniority + single name.
As for the Ming Dynasty, although the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang did not receive much formal education, he liked to show off and set rules. He formulated a set of rules for naming his descendants. To put it simply:
< p>1 Give each royal family a set of generation tables with 20 characters. For example, the branch of King Yan is: Gao Zhan Qi Jianyou, Hou Zai Yi Chang You, Ci He Yi Bo Zhong, Jian Jing Di Xian You. There are many familiar ones in it, such as Emperor Zhengde Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun, Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian, etc. Lao Zhu has more than 20 sons, each of whom has 20 characters. They are not all the same, which is what he (or the ministers) thought.2 The names of each prince and grandson must be related to metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, and they must be sorted according to the five elements. For example, the Jiajing Emperor’s name is Zhu Houcong, and the five elements are fire (conn is next to the character for fire). His son's name must be related to earth (fire is the root of earth), which is the Longqing Emperor Zhu Zaihe; as for Longqing's son, the earth is the root of gold, which is the Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun.
Mr. Zhu Yuanzhang’s original intention was very good, but after all calculations, he did not take into account the reproductive capacity of the Zhu family’s descendants. The population of each generation of descendants will increase geometrically. In the beginning, it was still possible to use common words, but soon, tragically, the descendants of the Zhu family found that there were not enough words.
What should I do? I can only look through various ancient books and search for all the rare characters, variant characters, and common characters. If it still doesn’t work, I have to make up characters. After that, there are what we can see now such as radium, sodium, magnesium, cobalt, cerium, alkane, alkene, etc.
King of Yonghe—Zhu Shenlei; King of Fengqiu—Zhu Tongke;
King of Luyang—Zhu Tongniobium; King of Ruijin—Zhu Zaina;
Xuan King Ning—Zhu Chengco; King Huairen—Zhu Chengpalladium;
King Yuanling—Zhu Ence; King Kaqing—Zhu Shuainzin;
King Han—Zhu Zhengbao; King of Jishan——Zhu Xiaoti;
King of Xinye——Zhu Micadmium; King of Chu——Zhu Mengran...
2. What is the relationship with the periodic table of elements
Until In 1896, Xu Shou introduced the periodic table of elements invented by Mendeleev to China. At that time, there were no corresponding Chinese characters. How to translate these strange names into Chinese?
In order to translate well These elements combine both form and sound. This old man spent a lot of time reading various ancient books to find inspiration. I soon found the family tree of the Ming Dynasty royal family, which is amazing! Isn’t this appropriate anymore? Next to the word metal, next to the word fire, etc., add a transliterated Chinese character! For example, Na (Natrium), it will do Using the name of King Zhu Zaina of Ruijin. Therefore, Xu Shou named today's Chinese names of chemical elements based on the Ming Dynasty family tree.
It can only be said that Brother Zhu Yuanzhang and his descendants invented and created the periodic table of elements. The Chinese characters for the elements are at the front, and later generations borrowed and plagiarized their names at the back, thus forming what we see now. coincide.
The world is so wonderful. The names of dragons, dragons, and grandsons have actually helped science a lot. All this must be attributed to Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Chongba. This guy is really the master of China. Lev! Can be called the "Father of the Periodic Table of Elements"!.
When children learn chemistry, they must at least express their gratitude to Mr. Zhu Yuanzhang. Otherwise, they may not recite hydrogen, lithium, sodium, potassium, etc., but Hydrogeium, Lithium, Natrium, Kalium. .
3. Xu Shou
Finally, let’s popularize science about Mr. Xu Shou, a pioneer of chemistry in the late Qing Dynasty. Xu Shou was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. In the 1860s, due to his proficiency in technology, he began building ships for the Westernizationists at the Anqing Ordnance Institute, designing and manufacturing China's first completely homemade steamship "Huang Hu".
In 1868, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau set up a translation hall, and he went to work as a translator, translating 13 scientific works in his life. Translation at that time was different from now. There was no unified standard, and foreigners dictated the translation, and then the Chinese compiled it into books. It was much more difficult to translate than it is now. This is how the earliest chemical works in China such as "Chemical Jianyuan" were produced. This book was translated by the British missionary Fryer.
Mr. Xu Shou also published a paper on acoustics, "Textual Research on Lu Lu Shuo", which was translated into English by Fu Lanya and published in "Nature" in March 1881. This is the first time a Chinese has published a paper in Nature! This paper overturned the conclusion of the famous physicist John Tyndall in "Acoustics" through experiments, corrected Bernoulli's law, and was praised by the editor as " Voices from China”.
Mr. Xu Shou made a standard when he translated chemical elements. Of course, some people also have opinions on this standard, but they can’t come up with a better solution, so it is still used today, but I think it’s quite OK~