Pyongyang, March 3 (KCNA) -- Among the Korean nation's precious cultural heritages is a rain gauge, invented in the mid-15th century for the first time in the world.

Before this instrument came out, the Korean ancestors would measure the amount of rainfall in the way of finding out how much rainwater soaked into ground.

But, the penetration depth of rain was different according to soil conditions and other various factors. So, it was difficult to measure the correct amount of rainfall.

To overcome such shortcoming, the Korean ancestors invented a rain gauge, 40 cm in height and 16 cm in diameter, in August 1441, and later bettered it to be a measurement instrument with 30 cm in height and 14 cm in diameter.

The rain gauge had a round-shaped drip mould with detailed division of scales on a stone support, thus making it possible to know the amount of rainfall.

At that time, it was institutionalized in local areas of Korea to report the time of rainfall and its amount to higher organs. And the central organ collected and recorded those data.

It was in 1639 that Italy began to measure the depth of rainwater with an instrument.

The rain gauge invented and used in Korea is about 200 years earlier than Italy's. -0-