Shen Kua commanded troops which defended his province from attacks of the Khitan tribes. His troops lost a battle and sustained heavy losses so he was relieved from his command and banished.
This seems to have been fortunate as far as science is concerned since after he was banished he wrote his scientific works. He is famous for the first reference to a magnetic compass which occurs in his work Meng ch'i pi t'an (Dream Pool Essays). This book also contains his work on mathematics, astronomy, cartography, optics and medicine.
Shen is also said to have constructed a celestial sphere and a bronze gnomon, a pointer whose shadow gives the time.
In 1074 Shen devised a new calendar.
Around 1080 Shen Kua claimed that fossilised plants were evidence for changes in climate. He recognised fossils of certain sea creatures in rock far from the sea and understood what this meant. Observing seashells in strata of the T'ai-hang Shan mountains, he deduced that these mountains, though now far from the sea, must once have been a sea shore.