Standardized rain gauge (cheugugi)
Pluviómetro estandarizado (cheugugi)
- Date
- 1441 · confidence high
- Place
- Seoul, South Korea
- Credited to
- King Sejong, Crown Prince Munjong and Jang Yeong-sil
- People
- 👤 Jang Yeong-sil1400–
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
An iron vessel of standardised dimensions with a ruler for measuring rainfall, distributed to every province in 1442 with an obligation to send the data to the court. It is the earliest known national rain-gauge network.
There are Chinese precedents for measuring rainfall (Qin Jiushao, 1247), but not a standardised network. Direct authorship is attributed sometimes to Jang Yeong-sil and sometimes to Munjong.
What it led to
- centuries of recorded rainfall series in Korea
- agricultural and fiscal planning based on rainfall
- instrumental meteorology