Inventions & Discoveries · Science and discovery
Seismoscope
A seismoscope is an instrument that shows that the ground has shaken, without the continuous record that a seismometer keeps. The earliest well-documented one was made in 132 CE by Zhang Heng of the Han dynasty in China and called Houfeng Didong Yi. According to the History of the Later Han Dynasty, it was a bronze vessel about 2 metres across, with eight dragon's heads that dropped a ball into a bronze toad to show the direction of a quake. Mercury and pendulum seismoscopes followed in 18th-century Europe, and the modern seismometer was developed in the 19th century.
On the inventions tree
- First known
- 132 CE
- Where
- China
- Credited to
- Zhang Heng · Han Dynasty
NoteUnverified claims that a device resembling an earthquake detector existed in Ancient Egypt have no confirmation in reliable historical sources. How the central column inside the vessel opened only one dragon's mouth is not known.
See also
Cite this entry
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Seismoscope. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/seismoscope
- MLA
- “Seismoscope.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/seismoscope. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Seismoscope.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/seismoscope.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Seismoscope’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/seismoscope (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻