In 1941, China's eastern universities were forced to relocate to the west as a result of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Chinese academics sought the help of the British government in an effort to preserve their intellectual life. In 1942, Needham was selected and appointed as a diplomat by the British government and tasked with traveling to China and assessing the situation. During his three years there, Needham realised that the Chinese had developed techniques and mechanisms which were centuries older than their European counterparts. Needham became concerned with the exclusion of China in the Western history of science and began to question why the Chinese ceased to develop new techniques after the 16th century.
Armed with his new-found knowledge, Needham returned to Cambridge in 1948 and began working on a book with one of the Chinese medical students he met in Cambridge, Wang Ling, who was now a professor at a university. Initially, he planned on releasing only one volume of his findings through the Cambridge University Press, but later changed his mind and proposed up to eleven volumes. In 1954, Needham published the first volume of Science and Civilisation in China, which was well received and was followed by other volumes which focused on specific scientific fields and topics. Needham, along with his collaborators, was personally involved in all of the volumes of Science and Civilization, up until Needham's death in 1995. After Needham's death, Cambridge University established the Needham Research Institute. Scholars of the institution continue Needham's work and have published 8 additional volumes of Science and Civilisation in China, since his death.
There have been two summaries or condensations of the vast amount of material found in Science and Civilisation. The first, a one-volume popular history book by Robert Temple entitled The Genius of China, was completed in a little over 12 months to be available in 1986 for the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to China. This addressed only the contributions made by China and had a "warm welcome" from Joseph Needham in the introduction, though in the Beijing Review he criticized that it had "some mistakes ... and various statements that I would like to have seen expressed rather differently".
A second was made by Colin Ronan, a writer on the history of science, who produced a five volume condensation The Shorter Science and Civilisation: An abridgement of Joseph Needham's original text, between 1980 and his death in 1995. These volumes cover:
Historian Robert Finlay suggested "Needham never shied away from bold generalizations" and "employs many outdated concepts and makes countless unsupported assertions". Finlay points out that Needham never focuses on individual states and regions, instead he places Chinese, Indian, Islamic, and Western achievements within the context of reciprocal relations of Eurasian cultures.
Needham's attempt to uncover the reasoning behind China's rise and fall as an elite scientific and technologically advanced nation has been expounded upon and debated for decades including Justin Yifu Lin's University of Chicago journal article "The Needham Puzzle".
Some historians praise the standard of quality and thoroughness maintained throughout the volumes of Science and Civilization in China, but others questioned the accuracy of its contents. Georges Métailié expressed concerns over Needham’s methodology when he discovered that certain dates quoted by Needham could not be supported with sufficient evidence. Despite the common criticism of Science and Civilization in China that suggests it may have been biased by Needham’s Marxist beliefs and political leftism, scholars like Gregory Blue believe that there is insufficient evidence to support that Needham’s ideological inclinations are what drove him to formulate the Needham questions. However, historians like H. Floris Cohen did criticize Needham’s imprudent approach to his work, positing that Needham too often made his own biases apparent in his writings and attempted to propagandize his own historical narrative. Similar to how Needham criticizes other historians for exaggerating Greek influences on modern science, Needham’s critics argue that he had the proclivity to exaggerate the influences of Chinese sciences in the same fashion.
The separation of scientific developments in the East and the West occurs thematically in scholarly debates over how extensively responsible the West was for the development of science. Joseph Needham contrasted the more “organic” understanding of nature that China held with the “mechanical” perspective through which the West viewed existence. While certain members of the scientific community viewed China’s science as more of a “pseudoscience,” to Needham, these advancements were part of a proto-scientific period that was later incorporated by the West after the 16th century.
Needham contrasts Western modern science and Eastern natural science as “modern” and “primitive” sciences that were differentiated by their “universality”. He points out that because primitive sciences of the middle ages were intertwined with their cultural backgrounds, primitive sciences were not able to become “universal” until they were integrated with mathematics, a feat accomplished by the West. In response to historians like Rupert Hall, who believed that Eastern science was of negligible influence on modern science, Needham argues that since modern science was a product of combining natural science and mathematics, both Eastern organic science and Western mechanical science should be given equal credit for the creation of modern science. In support of Needham’s sentiment, Marta E. Hanson states that Western science was not able to replicate China’s millennia old ceramic and porcelain production techniques up until the publication of Georges Vogt’s scientific analysis of Chinese porcelain in 1900.
Needham’s grand questions influenced other scholars to document the impact of non-European cultures on the development of modern science. Scholars such as Arun Bala have praised Science and Civilisation in China as the most comprehensive modern survey of the scientific and technological accomplishments of any non-European civilization. Needham’s work helped motivate the publication of more works that documented the influences of multicultural contributions on the development of modern science in its nascent stages, including Science and Civilization in Islam by Seyyed Hossien Nasr.
Boston, Richard (20 June 1971). "Joseph Needham, the Real Thing". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/20/archives/joseph-needham-the-real-thing.html
Modern Library, 1999. 100 Best Nonfiction." http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnonfiction.html
Jacobsen, Stefan Gaarsmand (2013). "Chinese Influences or Images?: Fluctuating Histories of How Enlightenment Europe Read China". Journal of World History. 24 (3): 623–660. doi:10.1353/jwh.2013.0076. ISSN 1527-8050. S2CID 143538155. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
"Science and Civilisation in China". Needham Research Institute. Retrieved 9 July 2008. http://www.nri.cam.ac.uk/science.html
Needham, Joseph. Science and civilisation in China. Wang, Ling, 1917-1994., Métailie, Georges., Huang, H. T. Cambridge [England]. ISBN 978-0521057998. OCLC 779676. 978-0521057998
volume 5, part 11, page xxxii
Multhauf, Robert (October 1996). "Joseph Needham (1900-1995)". Technology and Culture. 37 (4): 880–891. doi:10.1353/tech.1996.0030. JSTOR 3107121. S2CID 258433587. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
Blue, Gregory (1997). "Joseph Needham-A Publication History". Chinese Science (14): 92. JSTOR 43290409. /wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)
Winchester, Simon (2008). "The man who unveiled China". Nature. 454 (7203): 409–11. doi:10.1038/454409a. PMID 18650901. S2CID 20213946. ProQuest 204462222. https://doi.org/10.1038%2F454409a
Winchester, Simon (2008). "The man who unveiled China". Nature. 454 (7203): 409–11. doi:10.1038/454409a. PMID 18650901. S2CID 20213946. ProQuest 204462222. https://doi.org/10.1038%2F454409a
Brook, Timothy (1996). "The Sinology of Joseph Needham". Modern China. 22 (3): 341. doi:10.1177/009770049602200304. S2CID 143987517. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
Winchester, Simon (2008). "The man who unveiled China". Nature. 454 (7203): 410. doi:10.1038/454409a. PMID 18650901. S2CID 20213946. ProQuest 204462222. https://doi.org/10.1038%2F454409a
Winchester, Simon (2008). "The man who unveiled China". Nature. 454 (7203): 410. doi:10.1038/454409a. PMID 18650901. S2CID 20213946. ProQuest 204462222. https://doi.org/10.1038%2F454409a
Multhauf, Robert (October 1996). "Joseph Needham (1900-1995)". Technology and Culture. 37 (4): 880–891. doi:10.1353/tech.1996.0030. JSTOR 3107121. S2CID 258433587. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
Winchester, Simon (2008). "The man who unveiled China". Nature. 454 (7203): 410. doi:10.1038/454409a. PMID 18650901. S2CID 20213946. ProQuest 204462222. https://doi.org/10.1038%2F454409a
Winchester, Simon (2008). "The man who unveiled China". Nature. 454 (7203): 410. doi:10.1038/454409a. PMID 18650901. S2CID 20213946. ProQuest 204462222. https://doi.org/10.1038%2F454409a
Multhauf, Robert (October 1996). "Joseph Needham (1900-1995)". Technology and Culture. 37 (4): 883. doi:10.1353/tech.1996.0030. JSTOR 3107121. S2CID 258433587. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
Winchester, Simon (2008). "The man who unveiled China". Nature. 454 (7203): 410. doi:10.1038/454409a. PMID 18650901. S2CID 20213946. ProQuest 204462222. https://doi.org/10.1038%2F454409a
Blue, Gregory (1997). "Joseph Needham-A Publication History". Chinese Science (14): 93. JSTOR 43290409. /wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)
Winchester, Simon (2008). "The man who unveiled China". Nature. 454 (7203): 410. doi:10.1038/454409a. PMID 18650901. S2CID 20213946. ProQuest 204462222. https://doi.org/10.1038%2F454409a
Winchester, Simon (2008). "The man who unveiled China". Nature. 454 (7203): 411. doi:10.1038/454409a. PMID 18650901. S2CID 20213946. ProQuest 204462222. https://doi.org/10.1038%2F454409a
Winchester, Simon (2008). "The man who unveiled China". Nature. 454 (7203): 411. doi:10.1038/454409a. PMID 18650901. S2CID 20213946. ProQuest 204462222. https://doi.org/10.1038%2F454409a
Ling Yuan (23 March 1987). "East-West: Bridging the Scientific Chasm" (PDF). Beijing Review. Retrieved 6 February 2011. http://www.robert-temple.com/articles/beijing_review.pdf
Colin Ronan (1980–95). The Shorter Science and Civilisation. Cambridge University Press.
Conklin, Groff (March 1955). "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf". Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 95–99. https://archive.org/stream/galaxymagazine-1955-03/Galaxy_1955_03#page/n95/mode/2up
Spence, Jonathan (18 April 1982). "THE CHINA THE WEST KNEW NOTHING ABOUT". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 July 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/18/books/the-china-the-west-knew-nothing-about.html
Lyall, Sarah (27 March 1995). "Joseph Needham, China Scholar From Britain, Dies at 94". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 July 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/27/obituaries/joseph-needham-china-scholar-from-britain-dies-at-94.html
Hart, Roger (1999). "Beyond Science and Civilization: A Post-Needham Critique". East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine. 16 (16): 88–114. doi:10.1163/26669323-01601006. ISSN 1562-918X. JSTOR 43150558. /wiki/Doi_(identifier)
Bala, Arun (2006). The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science. doi:10.1057/9780230601215. ISBN 978-0-230-60979-2. S2CID 142593876. 978-0-230-60979-2
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Perdue, Peter C."Joseph Needham's Problematic Legacy." Technology and Culture, vol. 47 no. 1, 2006, pp. 175-178. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/tech.2006.0092
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Sivin (2017). - Sivin, Nathan (2017). "The Needham Question". Oxford Bibliographies. http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199920082/obo-9780199920082-0006.xml#obo-9780199920082-0006-bibItem-0003
Huff, Toby E., 1942- (15 June 2017). The rise of early modern science : Islam, China, and the West (Third ed.). Cambridge, United Kingdom. ISBN 978-1-107-13021-0. OCLC 962304126.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) 978-1-107-13021-0
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Needham, Joseph. “Science and Society in East and West.” In The Grand Titration: Science and Society in East and West. By Joseph Needham, 190–217. London: Allen & Unwin, 1969a.
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Finlay, Robert. "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China." Journal of World History, vol. 11 no. 2, 2000, pp. 265-303. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/jwh.2000.0035
Sivin (2017). - Sivin, Nathan (2017). "The Needham Question". Oxford Bibliographies. http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199920082/obo-9780199920082-0006.xml#obo-9780199920082-0006-bibItem-0003
Lin, Justin Yifu (January 1995). "The Needham Puzzle: Why the Industrial Revolution Did Not Originate in China" (PDF). Economic Development and Cultural Change. 43 (2): 269–292. doi:10.1086/452150. ISSN 0013-0079. S2CID 35637470. http://www.econ.ucla.edu/workingpapers/wp650.pdf
Hart, Roger (2013). Imagined civilizations : China, the west, and their first encounter. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 33–49. ISBN 9781421406060. 9781421406060
Hart, Roger (2013). Imagined civilizations : China, the west, and their first encounter. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 33–49. ISBN 9781421406060. 9781421406060
Hart, Roger (2013). Imagined civilizations : China, the west, and their first encounter. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 33–49. ISBN 9781421406060. 9781421406060
Bala, Arun (2006). The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science. doi:10.1057/9780230601215. ISBN 978-0-230-60979-2. S2CID 142593876. 978-0-230-60979-2
Bala, Arun (2006). The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science. doi:10.1057/9780230601215. ISBN 978-0-230-60979-2. S2CID 142593876. 978-0-230-60979-2
Bala, Arun (2006). The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science. doi:10.1057/9780230601215. ISBN 978-0-230-60979-2. S2CID 142593876. 978-0-230-60979-2
Souza, George Bryan; Kerr, Rose; Wood, Nigel (2015). "Review of Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 12, Ceramic Technology, KerrRose, WoodNigel". East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (42): 132–134. doi:10.1163/26669323-04201011. ISSN 1562-918X. JSTOR 90005753. https://www.jstor.org/stable/90005753
Amelung, Iwo (2007). "Review of Science and Technology in East Asia. Proceedings of the XXth International Congress of History of Science [Liège, 20-26 July 1997]". East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (26): 136–142. doi:10.1163/26669323-02601008. ISSN 1562-918X. JSTOR 43150708. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43150708
Amelung, Iwo (2007). "Review of Science and Technology in East Asia. Proceedings of the XXth International Congress of History of Science [Liège, 20-26 July 1997]". East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (26): 136–142. doi:10.1163/26669323-02601008. ISSN 1562-918X. JSTOR 43150708. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43150708
Amelung, Iwo (2007). "Review of Science and Technology in East Asia. Proceedings of the XXth International Congress of History of Science [Liège, 20-26 July 1997]". East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (26): 136–142. doi:10.1163/26669323-02601008. ISSN 1562-918X. JSTOR 43150708. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43150708
Amelung, Iwo (2007). "Review of Science and Technology in East Asia. Proceedings of the XXth International Congress of History of Science [Liège, 20-26 July 1997]". East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (26): 136–142. doi:10.1163/26669323-02601008. ISSN 1562-918X. JSTOR 43150708. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43150708
Hart, Roger (2013). Imagined civilizations : China, the west, and their first encounter. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 33–49. ISBN 9781421406060. 9781421406060
Bala, Arun (2006). The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science. doi:10.1057/9780230601215. ISBN 978-0-230-60979-2. S2CID 142593876. 978-0-230-60979-2
Bala, Arun (2006). The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science. doi:10.1057/9780230601215. ISBN 978-0-230-60979-2. S2CID 142593876. 978-0-230-60979-2
Hart, Roger (2013). Imagined civilizations : China, the west, and their first encounter. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 33–49. ISBN 9781421406060. 9781421406060
Bala, Arun (2006). The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science. doi:10.1057/9780230601215. ISBN 978-0-230-60979-2. S2CID 142593876. 978-0-230-60979-2
Bala, Arun (2006). The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science. doi:10.1057/9780230601215. ISBN 978-0-230-60979-2. S2CID 142593876. 978-0-230-60979-2
Hart, Roger (2013). Imagined civilizations : China, the west, and their first encounter. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 33–49. ISBN 9781421406060. 9781421406060
Hart, Roger (2013). Imagined civilizations : China, the west, and their first encounter. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 33–49. ISBN 9781421406060. 9781421406060
Bala, Arun (2006). The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science. doi:10.1057/9780230601215. ISBN 978-0-230-60979-2. S2CID 142593876. 978-0-230-60979-2
Hart, Roger (2013). Imagined civilizations : China, the west, and their first encounter. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 33–49. ISBN 9781421406060. 9781421406060
Hanson, Marta E. (2007). Kerr, Rose; Wood, Nigel; Mei-fen, Ts'ai; Fukang, Zhang; Huang, H. T.; Needham, Joseph; Gwei-djen, Lu; Sivin, Nathan; Robinson, Kenneth Girdwood (eds.). "Needham's Heavenly Volumes and Earthly Tomes". Early Science and Medicine. 12 (4): 405–432. doi:10.1163/157338207X231413. ISSN 1383-7427. JSTOR 20617687. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20617687
Bala, Arun (2006). The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science. doi:10.1057/9780230601215. ISBN 978-0-230-60979-2. S2CID 142593876. 978-0-230-60979-2
Bala, Arun (2006). The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science. doi:10.1057/9780230601215. ISBN 978-0-230-60979-2. S2CID 142593876. 978-0-230-60979-2
Bala, Arun (2006). The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science. doi:10.1057/9780230601215. ISBN 978-0-230-60979-2. S2CID 142593876. 978-0-230-60979-2