Bulletin Number Five 1983

Dr. Joseph Needham, DSc(Hon), LLD(Hon), DLitt(Hon), PhD(Hon) I f towards the end o f the twentieth century men o f Renaissance could still be found who have transcended growing specialization in learning, Dr. JosephNeedham would certainly be a supreme example. It is indeed encouraging, in spite o f C.P. Snow's warning o f polari­ zation o f the two cultures, that we still have men o f Joseph Needham's vision who can look at the twain in the right perspective. Scientist, historian, philoso­ pher, and educator, Needham began his long and brilliant career as a pioneering biochemist known for his books Chemical Embryology, 1931 and Bio­ chemistry and Morphogenesis, 1942. His lifelong affiliation is w ith Cambridge University, where he has been first Fellow (1924-66) and then Master (1966- 76) o f Gonville and Caius College, and since 1976 Director o f East Asian History o f Science Library. His many honours and awards, including Honorary Counsellorship to UNESCO and, significantly, Leonardo da Vinci Medal, I cannot mention in fu ll. For his scholarly achievements and educational con­ tributions we share admiration w ith academic com­ munities all over the world. But Needham means much more to us than just a great scholar. To us he means Science and Civiliza­ tion in China, a trail-blazing yet monumental work encyclopaedic in scope, vivid in imagination, and painstaking in scholarship, the result o f forty years o f expeditions and researches in collaboration w ith other distinguished scholars. By arranging and assessing historical relics o f two thousand years, the book undertakes a long overdue revaluation o f the impor­ tant role science and technology played in ancient China. With eleven o f the twenty volumes published, this work has already exposed the prejudice o f con­ ventional scholars, foreign and native Chinese alike, that Chinese civilization did not excel in science and technology. Men o f foresight have been articulate in warning us against the use o f science not for conquest o f Nature but for conquest o f man. It is most meaningful that Needham's choice to remedy the social abuse o f science is by a return to Chinese philosophy. Let me quote his own words: ‘I f the world is searching for an ethic firm ly based on the nature o f man, an ethic which could justify resistance to every dehumanizing invention o f social control, an ethic in the light o f which mankind could judge dispassionately what the best course to take w ill be, in the face o f m ulti­ tudinous options raised by the ever-growing powers given to us by the natural sciences, then let it listen to the sages o f Confucianism and Taoism . . . China has in her time learnt much from the rest o f the world; now perhaps it is time for the nations and the continents to learn again from her.' For his advancement not only o f learning but also o f international understanding, Mr. Chancellor, I request Your Excellency to award Dr. Joseph Needham the degree o f Doctor o f Science, honoris causa. NEWS 5