The East Asian History of Science Foundation Hong Kong (EAHSF HK) in collaboration with the Hong Kong Science and Technology University Library presents the exhibition “Chinese Wartime Science through the Lens of Joseph Needham” from March 30th to April 21st 2017 at the Special Collections Gallery.

The late Dr. Joseph Needham (1900-1995) was a prominent biochemist who dedicated most of his life to the history of science and technology in China. He is well known for his great work, the 26 volumes “Science and Civilization in China” series. His main question, now known as the “Needham Question”, asks “why modern science had not developed in Chinese civilization but only in Europe given China’s remarkable scientific achievements before the 15th century”.

The exhibition features 11 banners with photos documenting Needham’s first encounter with wartime China and its Free Universities in the Southwest.

One introductory video and a large book selection cover the whole span of the relationship of Joseph Needham with Chinese Science and Civilization.

Date: 30 March 2017
Time: 12:00 – 12:30 pm
Venue: The Hong Kong Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce Ko Pui Shuen Gallery, 1/F, Library

The Ceremony was officiated by the President, Prof Tony F Chan.

Joseph Needham and the “Science and Civilization in China”: An East-West Journey of Destiny

Speaker    Dr. Peter L. Lee
Chairman of the East Asian History of Science Foundation HK
Date    30 March 2017
Time    1:00 – 2:00pm
Venue    Library LG4 Multi-function room
Language    English

It will focus on the initial stage of Needham’s relationship with China, retelling how this brilliant biochemist in his prime at Cambridge during the 1930s befriended 3 young graduate students from China pursuing their Ph.D. in the same laboratory and was challenged by them to know more about the contributions of the ancient Chinese science, technology and medicine to the modern world. This was the beginning of Joseph Needham’s curiosity about China that eventually transformed his young scientific career into the most influential Western historian of Chinese Science and civilization.