Needham's Dialogue Vision: Understanding Science as a Multi-Civilization Outcome 

Throughout Dr. Joseph Needham’s monumental work on the series Science and Civilisation in China, Dr. Needham constantly asked and reflected on why ancient Chinese science and technology which was ahead of the West from the 2nd century CE fell behind after the 17th century, and largely missed the transition to modern science. Needham’s so-called “Grand Comparative Question” continues to be the subject of lively discussion and debate in many international forums today.

The inaugural Needham Conference 2023 will be held at The HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) from 23 – 24 March 2023. With the theme “Needham’s Dialogical Vision: Understanding Science as a Multi-Civilizational Outcome”, the two-day conference will bring together more than twenty leading scholars from across the world to address Needham’s dialogical question of how and why such exchanges across cultures came to enrich modern science today.

For more information and event registration, please visit here.

Themes for Needham Conference 2023:

• Historical Sociology in Dialogue: Introductory Orientations and The Social Background
• Cosmologies in Dialogue: Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and Earth
• Natural Sciences in Dialogue: Physics and Physical Technology & Chemistry and Chemical Technology
• Medical Traditions in Dialogue: Biology and Biological Technology
• Modes of Inquiry in Dialogue: History of Scientific Thought