Science and Civilisation in China (1954–[2015]) is a series of books initiated and edited by British biochemist, historian and sinologist Sir Joseph Needham, Ph.D (1900–1995). They deal with the history of science and technology in China. To date there have been seven volumes in twenty-seven books. The series was on the Modern Library Board's 100 Best Nonfiction books of the 20th century.[1]
In 1954, Needham—along with an international team of collaborators—initiated the project to study the science, technology, and civilisation of ancient China. This project produced a series of volumes published by Cambridge University Press. The project is still continuing under the guidance of the Publications Board of the Needham Research Institute (NRI), chaired by Christopher Cullen.[2]
Needham's transliteration of Chinese characters uses the Wade-Giles system, though the aspirate apostrophe (e.g., ch'i) was rendered 'h' (viz. chhi; traditional Chinese: 氣; Mandarin Pinyin: qì). However, it was abandoned in favor of the pinyin system by the NRI board in April 2004, with Volume 5, Part 11 becoming the first to use the new system.[3]
Summaries
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".[4] 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.[5] These volumes cover:
- China and Chinese science
- Mathematics, astronomy, meteorology and the earth sciences
- Magnetism, nautical technology, navigation, voyages
- Mechanical engineering, machines, clockwork, windmills, aeronautics
- Civil engineering, roads, bridges, hydraulic engineering
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