一般认为，指南针是从中国经阿拉伯由十字军传到欧洲的。然而，现有文献表明，西方人独立发明了指南针！在1186年，Alexander Neckham在书中指出，指南针在欧洲早就用作导航设备。 在A.A. Kaufman等人主编的PRINCIPLES OF THE MAGNETIC METHODS IN GEOPHYSICS 中，有这样一段文字： For a long time it has been an opinion that this discovery in China was brought by Arabs to the Mediterranean and was used the Crusaders . At the same time, there are indications that the compass was independently invented in north-western Europe, probably in England, earlier than elsewhere . For instance, in the year 1186, the monk Alexander Neckham mentioned the compass as if it is already a well known device. 在维基百科关于 Alexander Neckham 的条目（ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Neckam ）中，也有如下文字： Neckam has preserved to us the earliest European notices of the magnet as a guide to seamen, the early compass. Outside China, these seem to be the earliest records (the Chinese encylopaedist Shen Kuo gave the first clear account of suspended magnetic compasses a hundred years earlier in 1088 AD with his book Mengxibitan, or Dream Pool Essays). It was probably in Paris that Neckam heard how a ship, among its other stores, must have a needle placed above a magnet (the De utensilibus assumes a needle mounted on a pivot), which would revolve until its point looked north, and guide sailors in murky weather or on starless nights. Neckam does not seem to think of this as a startling novelty: he merely records what had apparently become the regular practice of many seamen of the Catholic world.
标签: Alexander
