We suggest you solve a riddle:
You do not get lost on the road
Holding a box with a magnetic arrow in the palm of your hand.
She will help not turn off the route
And will lead to the appointed point.
You guessed without difficulty, of course, that this is a compass. This great invention, which rightfully belongs to the category of the four greatest inventions of mankind, has been preserved and is used to this day. The compass was the first navigational instrument to help navigators navigate the open sea.
The essence of the compass structure is a magnetic needle mounted on a small rod and able to freely rotate in all directions. The arrow points to the Earth’s North Magnetic Pole. In accordance with its location, other objects that are on Earth are mapped. Due to this, the compass is used in orienting not only on water, but also on land.
The question of where the compass was invented and who invented the compass does not have an exact answer. For a long time it was still believed that the discovery, based on the iron magnetized arrow, belongs to China. The likeness of a compass was originally used for orientation when driving through the desert. The superiority of the invention of the device and the country in which the compass was invented is disputed by Indians, Italians, Arabs, and French. In all the arguments and evidence there are inaccuracies, discrepancies. Unfortunately, judgments have survived to this day, records of this discovery are only in the opinion of scientists and assumptions about who invented the compass, and not the testimony of sailors.
In the third century BC , there was already a description of the first compass, which belongs to the Chinese scientist Hen Fei-tzu. It was like a polished spoon with a handle that was mounted on a plate of wood or copper. The directions of the light were indicated on the plate. Having placed a spoon from magnetite so that the handle did not touch the plane, it began to rotate. That side of the world, which the cutting point pointed to after its independent stop, signified the south.
There is a Chinese legend about who invented the compass. During the reign of Vladyka Huang-di, a great battle took place, during which an evil spirit, through witchcraft, spread a thick fog. In this position, the soldiers could not fight: they did not see anything around them, they did not understand where the rear was, and where the front was. The enemy suddenly emerged from the fog and dealt a mortal blow. The situation was very deplorable. Only one dignitary named Feng Hou sat on his chariot and thought. He was looking for a way out of this situation. It was necessary to come up with something that would help navigate the cardinal points. This man was very wise. To the thunder of battle, he made a chariot and mounted on it a figurine of a little iron man, who always pointed with his outstretched hand to the south, regardless of where the chariot was turning. Feng-hou is considered, according to legend, the inventor of the first compass.
A magnetic device for determining the cardinal directions in the daytime is first mentioned in a Chinese book dated 1044. After 44 years, a slightly improved compass was described in his work by the Chinese scientist Shen Ko. At present, this version that the Chinese were the first inventors of the compass is in doubt. One thing is undeniable - the Chinese were one of the first to guess the compass principle. In the XI century, a compass was already present at the stern of all Chinese ships.
Europe got acquainted with a wonderful invention thanks to Arab merchants at the beginning of the XXII century. Already in the XI century on all the ships of merchants - Arabs were compasses. Then the compass was a bowl of water, in which a wooden plank or cork floated with a magnetized arrow inserted into it. (On the Arab ship, the compass was made in the form of an iron fish, which, when immersed in water, always pointed to the north.) Following the Arabs, the sailors of Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, England began to use the compass. With this compass, you could find out where the north and south are. Around this time, the compass guessed for convenience to cover with glass.
An improved compass model was invented by the Italian Flavio Joya in the XIV century. For the convenience of determining other parts of the world, he proposed breaking the circle of the compass into sixteen parts. He also improved the rotation function by adding studs under the arrow.
We may not be able to find out exactly who invented the compass. Too many doubts about this recently. One thing is clear: a simple and very smart device helped make humanity a giant leap forward in its development.