Liang Lingzan

Liang Lingzan was a Chinese artist, astronomer, inventor, mechanical engineer and politician active during the Kaiyuan era of the Tang dynasty. Working with the monk and mathematician Yi Xing, he built a mechanized bronze water clock in Chang an during the 720s that doubled as an astronomical instrument, tracking the movement of the heavens as well as telling time. Contemporary accounts describe the device turning a wheel automatically to complete one revolution every day and night, with wheels, shafts, hooks, pins and interlocking rods driving bells and drums that sounded the hours and quarter hours on their own. Beyond his engineering work, Liang Lingzan wrote The Five Planet and Twenty Eight Constellation Deities, a text on astronomical deities that survives today in a Song dynasty copy held by the Osaka City Art Museum. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/