The Economic Times

In 723 CE, two 8th-century Chinese polymaths during the Tang dynasty invented the world's first mechanical clockwork escapement mechanism: How Yi Xing and Liang Lingzan changed timekeeping?

In 723 CE, two 8th-century Chinese polymaths during the Tang dynasty invented the world's first mechanical clockwork escapement mechanism. Yi Xing, a Buddhist monk, mathematician and astronomer, and Liang Lingzan, an engineer, artist and government official, developed a water-powered astronomical clock that used a water-wheel linkage to control movement and display celestial changes.