Gunpowder as the fourth power, East and West. First East Asian History of Science Foundation Lecture presented at the University of Hong Kong, 20 October 1983. By Joseph Needham. (Hong Kong University Press, Occasional Papers Series No. 3.) pp. vi, 70, illus. Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press, 1985. HK $70.00.

AbstractDespite the long-standing interest among science educators in using history of science in science teaching, little has been discussed around whether and how non-Western histories of science could be incorporated into science education. This study considers some opportunities and challenges of addressing East Asian history of science (EAHOS) in the science teacher education context, drawing on postcolonial science studies and global history of science. Eight undergraduate preservice science teachers (PSTs) participated in sessions on EAHOS. Our aim was to investigate the PSTs’ perceptions relating to the nature of EAHOS and its relevance to science teaching. Using interviews and reflective essays, we explore the tension coming from their dual positions as science teachers and East Asian people as they entered into the unfamiliar territory of EAHOS. When they were considering themselves specifically as science teachers, they tended to focus on the aspects of EAHOS as knowledge and concluded that it has little to do with achieving the aims of science teaching because is not part of modern science. On the contrary, when they were talking about their roles as teachers in general, they were able to come up with several educational benefits that EAHOS can offer to students, particularly in its relation to worldview and history. Additionally, several mixed feelings were expressed about the way EAHOS is often portrayed as “our” history about “our” science. Overall, the experience of exploring and discussing EAHOS provided the PSTs with an opportunity to critically reflect on science education and their responsibility as teachers in the context of broader society and culture.

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The East Asian History of Science Library/Needham Research Institute as an intellectual hub in the late 1970s and 1980s

Cultures of Science ◽

10.1177/2096608320922324 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 43-57

Author(s):

Gregory Blue

Keyword(s):

History Of Science ◽

Cultural Revolution ◽

East Asian ◽

Meeting Point ◽

Science Technology ◽

Wide Range ◽

History Of ◽

Asian History ◽

Academic Relations ◽

Research Institute

During its first decade and a half, the East Asian History of Science Library/Needham Research Institute served both as the centre of the Science and Civilisation in China project and as a meeting point for discussions involving a wide range of researchers. Some of these were working on the history of science, technology and medicine; some were members of Joseph Needham’s and Lu Gwei-Djen’s broader networks; and some came seeking the views, guidance or assistance of the institute’s founders on diverse topics. In the institute’s first 6 years in particular, a series of delegations from China visited as that country embarked on re-expanding academic relations abroad in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. This article recalls the institute’s ambiance during those years, key individuals who were involved and some of the kinds of interactions that took place there.

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James Poskett, Materials of the Mind: Phrenology, Race, and the Global History of Science, 1815–1920. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2019. Pp. ix + 373. ISBN 978-0-2266-2675-8. $45.00 (cloth).

The British Journal for the History of Science ◽

10.1017/s0007087419000815 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 52 (4) ◽

pp. 726-728

Author(s):

Emily Hayes

Keyword(s):

History Of Science ◽

University Of Chicago ◽

Global History ◽

History Of ◽

The Mind ◽

The University ◽

University Of Chicago Press

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Questioning Science in East Asian Contexts: Essays on Science, Confucianism, and the Comparative History of Science. By Yung Sik Kim. Leiden: Brill, 2014. viii, 284 pp. $130.00 (cloth).

The Journal of Asian Studies ◽

10.1017/s0021911815000662 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 74 (3) ◽

pp. 726-727

Author(s):

Francesca Bray

Keyword(s):

History Of Science ◽

East Asian ◽

Comparative History ◽

History Of

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Welcome and introduction

Notes and Records the Royal Society journal of the history of science ◽

10.1098/rsnr.1989.0007 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 43 (2) ◽

pp. 95-96

Keyword(s):

Advisory Committee ◽

History Of Science ◽

Royal Society ◽

Science And Technology ◽

Imperial College ◽

Joint Meeting ◽

Emeritus Professor ◽

History Of ◽

The Many ◽

The University

It is my pleasant duty to welcome you all most warmly to this meeting, which is one of the many events stimulated by the advisory committee of the William and Mary Trust on Science and Technology and Medicine, under the Chairmanship of Sir Arnold Burgen, the immediate past Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society. This is a joint meeting of the Royal Society and the British Academy, whose President, Sir Randolph Quirk, will be Chairman this afternoon, and it covers Science and Civilization under William and Mary, presumably with the intention that the Society would cover Science if the Academy would cover Civilization. The meeting has been organized by Professor Rupert Hall, a Fellow of the Academy and also well known to the Society, who is now Emeritus Professor of the History of Science and Technology at Imperial College in the University of London; and Mr Norman Robinson, who retired in 1988 as Librarian to the Royal Society after 40 years service to the Society.

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