Needham

Needham

Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (December 9, 1900 - March 24, 1995) is a British modern biochemist and expert in the history of science and technology. His book Science and civilization in China (i.e. the history of science and technology in China) has a far-reaching impact on the modern cultural exchanges between China and the West.

In 1922 and 1924, he received bachelor's degree and doctor's degree from Cambridge University. From 1942 to 1946, he served successively as science counsellor of the British Embassy in China and director of the Sino British science cooperation Museum. From 1946 to 1948, he was director of the science department of UNESCO in Paris, France. From 1966 to 1977, he was the dean of Gonville Kitts college, Cambridge University, UK. In 1983, he was the first director of Needham Institute in Cambridge, England, and honorary director in 1990.

Needham's thinking about the stagnation of science and technology in China, the famous "Needham Problem", has aroused the attention and discussion of all walks of life in the world. He has made a very important research on Chinese culture, science and technology, and is called "an old friend of the Chinese people" by Chinese media.

Life of the characters

On December 9, 1900, Needham was born into a Christian intellectual family in England, and he was the only child in the family. He was introverted and shy when he was young, but he grew up in an environment full of knowledge. When he was very young, his father taught him writing, carpentry, bird observation, European geography and plant classification. He especially liked France. Later, he traveled to France for a semester, and French was also a foreign language he was proficient in. Needham has a wide range of reading. At the age of 10, Needham finished the original text of Friedrich Schlegel's philosophy of history.

Under the influence of his family and friend, doctor Sir John bland Sutton, Needham became interested in science. By watching the surgery and being an assistant to my father's surgery. After realizing his talent and interest in science, he applied to study medicine and wanted to become a doctor.

In October 1917, Needham entered Cambridge University. He took an active part in various community activities, especially those related to religion. He is also responsible for inviting famous scholars to give lectures on humanities to medical students. These lectures covered a wide range of scientific history, especially how human thought activities led to numerous scientific experiments, ideas and theories, which left a deep impression on Needham. However, almost as soon as he entered school, Needham gave up the idea of becoming a surgeon. In his opinion, a surgeon is "sawing bones", which is too mechanical and does not need much intelligence. His tutor suggested that he study chemistry instead. Needham also thought that chemistry was more interesting than anatomy.

Needham received his bachelor's degree in 1920. At this time, Needham lost his father. At the same time, he found Frederick Gowland Hopkins, a great biochemist, who immediately asked Needham to work in his laboratory. Under his guidance and care, Needham's academic level and status rose steadily, and he was promoted to senior lecturer in just a few years.

In the spring of 1923, Needham began dating his colleague Dorothy Mary Moyle. Dorothy, five years older than Needham, is a biochemist who studies muscle. On September 13 of the following year, they married.

In October 1924, Needham defended his doctoral thesis, and case college gave him the honor of "academician" as a congratulatory gift, which not only enabled him to have a dormitory in the College (the famous k-1), but also enjoyed various privileges. By the age of 24, Needham had made a great success.

In 1930, Cambridge University Press published Needham's three volume monograph chemical embryology, which established Needham's position in the academic circle, and it is almost certain that he will achieve greater fame. Sure enough, he was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1941.

In August 1937, Lu Guizhen and two other Chinese students, Wang Yinglai and Shen Shizhang, came to Cambridge University to study. Lu Guizhen studied under Joseph Needham's wife. Needham almost fell in love with Lu Guizhen at first sight. According to Needham's diary, they dined together in the Indian restaurant in Cambridge or the best Italian restaurant; watched the film "the earth" adapted from Pearl S. Buck's novel; walked hand in hand along the frozen river; and went on holiday in Everon, France.

One night in February 1938, Needham and Lu Guizhen had a close relationship. The location was k-1, the dormitory of case college. At that time, Needham's wife went to visit his family, and Winchester's words "the couple's senrgies being spent" left readers unlimited imagination. After that, they were lying in bed smoking. Under the guidance of Lu Guizhen, Needham wrote down what they smoked - "cigarettes" in Chinese in his diary. This is Needham's first time to write Chinese. Needham looked at his masterpiece and said, "I have to learn this language." Then Lu Guizhen gave him the Chinese name "Needham". Because of his sympathy for socialism and his relationship with Lu Guizhen, Needham became anti war. While concentrating on his second book, biochemistry and morphogenesis, which is known as "one of the truly epoch-making biological works after Darwin", he wrote articles for British newspapers, took part in parades in London and published pamphlets to support the Chinese people.

In the summer of 1941, the British Council appointed Joseph Needham as the curator of the British Chinese science cooperation Museum in Chongqing, China, with the title of counsellor.

In the summer of 1942, he made a special trip to New York to see Lu Guizhen, who worked in the United States, and told her that she was about to set foot on Chinese territory. During their brief meeting, Needham told Lu Guizhen a sudden idea: why Chinese science, in general, has not been developed?

On February 24, 1943, after a 10 week voyage, Joseph Needham took off from Calcutta, India, in an American military plane and arrived in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in the afternoon.

From 1943 to 1946, Needham made 11 trips, traveling 30000 miles. As a diplomat, Needham had few forbidden areas. He spent time in Dunhuang in the Gobi desert, sketching and taking photos in caves, and accumulated enough materials to write a book. He went to Dujiangyan to stop in front of the dam built in 250 BC and deeply admired this ancient Chinese project. He loved the adventurous life during the war. On the way, he met many people of the three religions. He had a deeper understanding of Chinese culture and history, and became more proficient in Chinese. It was during his stay in China that Needham found Wang Ling, an important assistant to the cause of science and civilization in China.

In 1948, Wang Ling was invited to Cambridge to work as an assistant to science and civilization in China. Needham also gave him half of his salary before Cambridge University Press officially hired Wang Ling. At the same time, Needham also made friends including Guo Moruo and Zhu Kezhen. During his visit to Zhejiang University, where he moved to Zunyi, Needham once mentioned to president Zhu Kezhen that he would write a book on China's contribution to world civilization. After the surrender of Japan and the stabilization of China's political and military situation, Zhu Kezhen began to collect books and materials, and shipped them to Cambridge. Among them, the most precious is a complete set of ancient and modern books, totaling 10000 volumes and 170 million words.

In March 1946, Needham received a telegram from his left-wing friend, biologist Julian Huxley, from Cambridge, inviting him to return to the UK to serve as the director of the newly established natural science division of UNESCO. Needham seemed to be still upset about picken's complaint, so he chose to leave. But Needham has only worked for two years at UNESCO in London and Paris. Because the United States thinks that Needham is pro Communist and creates obstacles for his work, it is not allowed to distribute the funds of the United Nations to any scientific organization that the United States considers to be left-wing. So Needham resigned, returned to Cambridge, returned to his k-1, and immediately set about his plan.

On May 15, 1948, Needham formally submitted to Cambridge University Press the "secret" writing and publishing plan of science and civilization in China. He proposed that this volume should be written to all educated people as long as they are interested in the history of science, scientific thought and technology; it is a general history of civilization, especially focusing on the comparative development of Asia and Europe; this book includes two aspects: the history of Science in China and how all science and culture developed. Needham believed that China's contribution to world civilization far exceeds that of all other countries, but the recognition it has received is far from enough. A week later, the publishing house replied and accepted Needham's plan. But a few weeks later, Needham revised his plan to expand the book to seven volumes (Volume 1, general; Volume 2, Chinese philosophy; Volume 3, pre science; Volume 4, Chinese technology; Volume 5, Needham problem; Volume 6, the relationship between China's development and the history of world civilization; volume 7, looking forward to the future), to be completed within 10 years. Later, the publishing plan of science and civilization in China was revised several times, and the project became more and more huge.

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Chinese PinYin : Li Yue Se