Great Dictionary: Astronomy. Earth Science Volume

Author: Xia Zhengnong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: The "Great Dictionary" is a large-scale comprehensive dictionary. Its publication fills a gap in Chinese lexicography. To date, "The Ci Hai" is the only large-scale comprehensive dictionary in China, which not only includes single characters and general terms but also covers specialized terms across various fields, serving as both a general language dictionary and a specialized dictionary. It boasts a rich vocabulary, convenient retrieval, strong practicality, and is widely favored by readers. With the accelerated accumulation and innovation of human knowledge and the improvement of China's cultural literacy, many readers with higher educational backgrounds have raised higher demands for the "Ci Hai." Therefore, while continuing to compile new editions of "The Ci Hai" to meet the needs of the times, it is essential to compile a larger-scale comprehensive dictionary than "The Ci Hai," with more words and phrases and richer content. The compilation of "The Great Dictionary" is based on "The Ci Hai," inheriting its strengths and expanding upon them. The focus is on adding new fields and new terms and definitions in various disciplines that have not yet been covered in "The Ci Hai," while appropriately filling in gaps. The entire dictionary contains approximately 250,000 entries, totaling about 50 million words, which is more than twice the size of "The Ci Hai." It is compiled and published in volumes according to subject categories. This volume includes 8,000 entries on astronomy, space science and technology, earth science, and surveying, with a selected range covering names of disciplines, notable figures, works, organizations, major theories, doctrines, laws, important natural phenomena, common instruments and equipment, as well as important minerals, rocks, celestial bodies, and artificial celestial bodies. This volume is organized into four major categories: astronomy, space science and technology, earth science, and surveying. The subcategories below each major category follow traditional academic conventions. The classification is intended to facilitate retrieval and does not represent a disciplinary system. Earth science encompasses a wide range of disciplines, which are now divided into atmospheric science, solid earth physics, geomorphology, geology, and oceanography. Earth chemistry, crystallography, and gemology are relatively independent disciplines, but considering their close relationship with geology, they are included under geology in the organization. Geography is covered in a separate volume, so this volume only includes geomorphology.