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{{Short description|British biochemist, historian and sinologist (1900–1995)}}
{{for-multi|the cricketer|Joseph Needham (cricketer)|the politician|Joseph Needham (politician)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Joseph Needham
| honorific_suffix   = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CH|FRS|FBA|size=100%}}
| image              = Joseph Needham.jpg
| birth_name         = Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham
| birth_date         = {{Birth date text|9 December 1900}}
| birth_place        = [[London]], England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age text|24 March 1995|6 December 1900}}
| death_place        = [[Cambridge]], [[Cambridgeshire]], England
| known_for          = ''[[Science and Civilisation in China]]''
| education          = [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[MA (Oxon)|MA]], [[PhD]])
| occupation         = [[Biochemist]], [[historian of science]], [[sinologist]]
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|[[Dorothy M. Needham|Dorothy Moyle Needham]]|1924|1987|reason=died}}
* {{Marriage|[[Lu Gwei-djen]]|1989|1991|reason=died}}
}}
| awards             = {{Nowrap|[[Leonardo da Vinci Medal]] (1968)<br />[[Dexter Award]] (1979)}}
| website            = 
| module             = {{Infobox Chinese |child = yes
|t = 李約瑟
|s = 李约瑟
|p = Lǐ Yuēsè
|w = Li Yüeh-Sê
|l = [[Li (surname 李)]] [[Joseph]]
 }}
}}

'''Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham'''{{sfnb|GurdonRodbard|2000|p=365}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|n|iː|d|ə|m}}; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British [[biochemist]], [[historian of science]] and [[sinologist]] known for his scientific research and writing on the history of [[Science and technology in China|Chinese science and technology]], initiating publication of the multivolume ''[[Science and Civilisation in China]]''. He called attention to what has come to be known as [[#The Needham Question|'''the Needham Question''']], of why and how China had ceded its leadership in science and technology to Western countries.

He was elected a fellow of the [[Royal Society]] in 1941<ref name="winchester28-29">{{harvnb|Winchester|2008|pp=28–29}}</ref> and a fellow of the [[British Academy]] in 1971.<ref name="winchester238">{{harvnb|Winchester|2008|p=238}}</ref> In 1992, Queen [[Elizabeth II]] conferred on him the [[Order of the Companions of Honour]], and the Royal Society noted he was the only living person to hold these three titles.<ref name="winchester250">{{harvnb|Winchester|2008|p=250}}</ref>

==Early life==
Needham's father, Joseph, was a doctor, and his mother, [[Alicia Adélaide Needham|Alicia Adelaïde, née Montgomery (1863–1945)]], was a music composer from Oldcastle, County Meath, Ireland. His father, born in East London, then a poor section of town, rose to become a [[Harley Street]] physician, but frequently battled with Needham's mother. The young Needham often mediated. In his early teens, he was taken to hear the Sunday lectures of [[Ernest Barnes]], a professional mathematician who became [[Master of the Temple]], a royal church in London. Barnes inspired an interest in the philosophers and medieval scholastics that Needham pursued in his father's library. Needham later attributed his strong Christian faith to Barnes' philosophical theology, which was founded on rational argument, and attributed his openness to the religions of other cultures to Barnes as well.{{sfnb|GurdonRodbard|2000|p=366, 368}}

In 1914, with the outbreak of [[World War I]], Needham was sent to [[Oundle School]], founded in 1556 in [[Northamptonshire]]. He did not enjoy leaving home, but he later described the headmaster [[Frederick William Sanderson]] as a "man of genius" and said that without that influence on him at a tender age, he might not have attempted his largest work. Sanderson had been charged by the school's governors with developing a science and technology programme, which included a metal shop that gave the young Needham a grounding in engineering. Sanderson also emphasised to the boys of the school that co-operation led to higher human achievement than competition and that knowledge of history was necessary to build a better future. The Bible, in Sanderson's teaching, supplied archaeological knowledge to compare with the present. During school holidays, Needham assisted his father in the operating rooms of several wartime hospitals, an experience that convinced him that he was not interested in becoming a surgeon. The Royal Navy, however, appointed him a surgeon sub-lieutenant, a position that he held for only a few months.{{sfnb|GurdonRodbard|2000|p=368}}

== Education ==
In 1921, Needham graduated with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree from [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]. 
In January 1925, Needham earned an [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|MA]]. In October 1925, Needham earned a [[PhD]]. He had intended to study medicine, but came under the influence of [[Frederick Hopkins]], resulting in his switch to [[biochemistry]].

== Career ==
After graduation, Needham was elected to a fellowship at Gonville and Caius College and worked in Gowland Hopkins' laboratory at the University Department of Biochemistry, specialising in [[embryology]] and [[morphogenesis]]. His three-volume work ''Chemical Embryology'', published in 1931, included a classic study on the [[history of embryology]] stretching back from Egyptian times up to the early 19th century, and these chapters were later published under the title ''[[A History of Embryology]]'' in 1934. Including this history reflected Needham's fear that overspecialization would hold back scientific progress and that social and historical forces shaped science. At that time Cambridge school of biochemistry were recognised for imaginative exploratory science and had outstanding scientists Hopkins, [[Dorothy M. Needham]] (later his wife), [[Robin Hill (biochemist)|Robin Hill]], Barcroft who were joined by [[Rudi Lemberg]] on a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship.

In 1936, he and several other Cambridge scientists founded the History of Science Committee. The Committee included conservatives  but also Marxists like [[J.D. Bernal]], whose views on the social and economic frameworks of science influence Needham.{{sfnb|Mayer|2004|p=43, 48}}

Needham's [[Terry Lecture]] of 1936 was published by [[Cambridge University Press]] in association with [[Yale University Press]] under the title of ''Order and Life''.<ref name=Davies /> In 1939 he produced a massive work on [[morphogenesis]] that a Harvard reviewer claimed "will go down in the history of science as Joseph Needham's ''magnum opus,''" little knowing what would come later.<ref>{{harvnb|Winchester|2008|p=50}}</ref>

Although his career as [[biochemist]] and an academic was well established, his career developed in unanticipated directions with [[World War II]] with his evident interest in history. In 1939, Needham referred to his thesis that "man's intellectual progress cannot be understood save in the light of his social progress" illustrated by the historical period which saw the  re-birth of experimental science in Europe and in England at the end of the seventeenth century.  He was writing the foreword, with "particular pleasure", to the little book of my friend<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holorenshaw |first=Henry |title=The Levellers and the English Revolution |date=1939 |publisher=Victor Gollancz Ltd |edition=Left Book Club Edition. The New People's Library Vol XXI |location=London}}</ref> on the [[Levellers]]. Needham wrote: "Merton has shown how puritan were the early Fellows of the [[Royal Society]]."  And goes on to acknowledge Holorenshaw in pointing out: "that no less than the men of property, the Levellers realised the social importance of science, and foresaw the part it would one day play in human welfare."

Three Chinese scientists came to Cambridge for graduate study in 1937: [[Lu Gwei-djen]], [[Wang Ying-lai]], and Shen Shih-Chang ({{zhi|c=沈詩章}}, the only one under Needham's tutelage). Lu, daughter of a [[Nanjing]] pharmacist, taught Needham Chinese, igniting his interest in China's ancient technological and scientific past. He then pursued, and mastered, the study of [[Classical Chinese]] privately with [[Gustav Haloun]].<ref>Gregory, 'Joseph Needham,' in Peter Harman, Simon Mitton, (eds.) ''Cambridge scientific minds,''Cambridge University Press, 2002 pp.299–312, p.305.</ref> [[File:Tang Fei-fan and Joseph Needham in 1944.jpg|thumb|[[Tang Fei-fan]] and Joseph Needham in [[Kunming]], [[Yunnan]] 1944]]
Under the [[Royal Society]]'s direction, Needham was the director of the Sino-British Science Co-operation Office in [[Chongqing]] from 1942 to 1946. During this time he made several long journeys through war-torn China and many smaller ones, visiting scientific and educational establishments and obtaining for them much needed supplies. His longest trip in late 1943 ended in far west in [[Gansu]] at the caves in [[Dunhuang]]<ref>{{cite web|last1=Needham|first1=Joseph|title=Joseph Needham's sketchbook from his visit to the Buddhist grottoes at Chienfodong 千佛洞 (Qianfodong), Dunhuang, Gansu Province,... (NRI2/5/12/4)|url=http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-NRI-00002-00005-00012-00004/1|publisher=Cambridge Digital Library|access-date=12 July 2016}}</ref> at the end of the [[Great Wall]] where the earliest dated printed book - a copy of the [[Diamond Sutra]] - was found.<ref>For images and a transcription of his diary of this journey see http://idp.bl.uk/database/oo_loader.a4d?pm=NRI2/5/12/1</ref> The other long trip reached [[Fuzhou]] on the east coast, returning across the [[Xiang River]] just two days before the Japanese blew up the bridge at [[Hengyang]] and cut off that part of China. In 1944 he visited [[Yunnan]] in an attempt to reach the Burmese border. Everywhere he went he purchased and was given old historical and scientific books which he shipped back to Britain through diplomatic channels. They were to form the foundation of his later research. He got to know [[Zhou Enlai]], first [[Premier of the People's Republic of China]], and met numerous Chinese scholars, including the painter [[Wu Zuoren]],<ref>{{cite web|last1=Needham|first1=Joseph|title=Joseph Needham's journal of his tour in North-West China, Aug.7-Dec.14, 1943 (NRI2/5/12/1)|url=http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-NRI-00002-00005-00012-00001/130|website=Cambridge Digital Library|access-date=12 July 2016}}</ref> and the meteorologist [[Zhu Kezhen]], who later sent crates of books to him in Cambridge, including 2,000 volumes of the ''[[Gujin Tushu Jicheng]]'' encyclopaedia, a comprehensive record of China's past.<ref>{{harvnb|Winchester|2008|pp=84–157,175}}</ref>

[[File:Joseph Needham in Cambridge 1965 04.jpg|thumb|Joseph Needham in Cambridge 1965]]On his return to Europe, he was asked by [[Julian Huxley]] to become the first head of the Natural Sciences Section of [[UNESCO]] in Paris, France. In fact it was Needham who insisted that science should be included in the organisation's mandate at an earlier planning meeting.

After two years in which the suspicions of the Americans over scientific co-operation with communists intensified, Needham resigned in 1948 and returned to Gonville and Caius College, where he resumed his fellowship and his rooms, which were soon filled with his books.

He devoted his energy to the history of Chinese science until his retirement in 1990, even though he continued to teach some biochemistry until 1993. Needham's reputation recovered from the Korean affair (see below) such that by 1959 he was elected as president of the fellows of Caius College and in 1965 he became Master (head) of the college, a post which he held until he was 76.

=== ''Science and Civilisation in China'' ===
{{Main|Science and Civilisation in China}}
In 1948, Needham proposed a project to the [[Cambridge University Press]] for a book on ''Science and Civilisation in China''. Within weeks of being accepted, the project had grown to seven volumes, and it has expanded ever since. His initial collaborator was the historian [[Wang Ling (historian)|Wang Ling]], whom he had met in [[Lizhuang, Yibin|Lizhuang]] and obtained a position for at [[Trinity College, Cambridge|Trinity]]. The first years were devoted to compiling a list of every mechanical invention and abstract idea that had been made and conceived in China. These included [[cast iron]], the [[ploughshare]], the [[stirrup]], [[gunpowder]], [[printing]], the [[magnetic compass]] and clockwork escapements, most of which were thought at the time to be western inventions. The first volume eventually appeared in 1954.

The publication received widespread acclaim, which intensified to lyricism as the further volumes appeared. He wrote fifteen volumes himself, and the regular production of further volumes continued after his death in 1995. Later, Volume III was divided, so that 27 volumes have now been published. Successive volumes are published as they are completed, which means that they do not appear in the order originally contemplated in the project's prospectus.

Needham's final organizing schema was:
* Vol. I. ''Introductory Orientations''
* Vol. II. ''History of Scientific Thought''
* Vol. III. ''Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and Earth''
* Vol. IV. ''Physics and Physical Technology''
* Vol. V. ''Chemistry and Chemical Technology''
* Vol. VI. ''Biology and Biological Technology''
* Vol. VII. ''The Social Background''
See ''[[Science and Civilisation in China]]'' for a full list.

The project is still proceeding under the guidance of the Publications Board of the [[Needham Research Institute]], directed by Professor Mei Jianjun.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nri.org.uk/science.html|title=Science and Civilisation in China|publisher=Needham Research Institute|access-date=9 July 2008}}</ref>

=== UNESCO ===
{{Main|UNESCO}}
Needham, along with colleague [[Julian Huxley]], was one of the founders of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ([[UNESCO]]). Developed in 1945 with the help of Allied governments, UNESCO is an international organization that aims to bring education to regions that had been affected by Nazi occupation.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{Cite thesis|title=Studies of science before "Science Studies" : Cold War and the politics of science in the U.S., U.K., and U.S.S.R., 1950s-1970s|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0xs6x1rw|publisher=UC San Diego|date=2012|language=en|first=E. A.|last=Aronova}}</ref> Needham and Huxley advocated the growth of scientific education as a means to overcome political conflict and hence founded UNESCO in an effort to expand its influence. Composed of representatives from various Allied countries, UNESCO operated on the principle that ideas and information should spread freely among nations. However, Needham disagreed with this initial mode of exchange because of its failure to include nations outside of Europe and America.

To communicate his discordance with the model, Needham wrote and distributed a formal message to others in the organization explaining its flaws. He stated that nations outside of the European-American "bright zone", or primary location of scientific advancement, needed the help of international education the most. He also argued that the lack of familiarity between other nations and those in the bright zone made ideological exchange difficult. Finally, he expressed the notion that other countries had issues disseminating knowledge because they lacked the capital necessary for distribution.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> Due to these constraints, Needham suggested that most of the organization's support should be given to the "periphery" nations that lie outside of the bright zone.

In addition to supporting periphery nations, Needham incorporated his desire for a non-Eurocentric record of science in UNESCO's mission. To this end, Huxley and Needham devised an ambitious scholarly project they called ''The History of Scientific and Cultural Development of Mankind'' (shortened to ''[[History of Humanity|History of Mankind]]'')''.'' The goal of this project was to write a non-ethnocentric account of scientific and cultural history; it aimed to synthesize the contributions, perspectives, and development of oriental nations in the East in a way that was complementary to the Western scientific tradition. This vision was partly influenced by the political climate of the time of its planning in the late 1940s - the "East" and "West" were seen as cultural and political opposites. Working from the belief that science was the universal experience that bound humanity, Huxley and Needham hoped that their project would help ease some of the animosity between the two spheres.<ref>{{Cite book|date=2016|editor-last=Aronova|editor-first=Elena|editor2-last=Turchetti|editor2-first=Simone|title=Science Studies during the Cold War and Beyond|doi=10.1057/978-1-137-55943-2|isbn=978-1-137-57816-7}}</ref> The project involved hundreds of scholars from around the globe and took over a decade to reach fruition in 1966. The work is still continued today with new volumes published periodically.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/general-and-regional-histories/history-of-humanity/|title=History of Humanity {{!}} United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization|website=www.unesco.org|access-date=13 July 2019}}</ref>

=== The Needham Question ===
{{see also|Science and Civilisation in China#The Needham Question|High level equilibrium trap|sprouts of capitalism|Great Divergence}}
{{section rewrite|date=July 2023}}
In ''The Grand Titration'', published 1969, Needham posited what became known as "The Needham Question" or "The Needham Puzzle" – namely, why had China been overtaken by the West in science and technology, despite their earlier successes? In Needham's words, "Why did modern science, the mathematization of hypotheses about Nature, with all its implications for advanced technology, take its meteoric rise only in the West", and "had not developed in Chinese civilization" which, in the previous many centuries "was much more efficient than occidental in applying" natural knowledge to practical needs.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph Needham|title=The Grand Titration: Science and Society in East and West, p.16, 190|date=1969}}
</ref><ref name="Joseph Needham 2004">{{cite book|author=Joseph Needham|title=Science and Civilisation in China|volume=7 part 2, p.1|date=2004}}</ref>

[[Francis Bacon]] considered four inventions as completely transforming the modern world, marking it off from the antiquity of the Middle Ages: paper and printing, gunpowder, and the magnetic compass. He regarded the origins of these inventions as 'obscure and inglorious', dying without ever knowing that all of them were Chinese. Part of Needham's work attempts to "put this record straight".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robert |first=Temple |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/271597716 |title=The genius of China : 3,000 years of science, discovery & invention |date=2007 |publisher=Hardie Grant |isbn=978-1-74066-533-9 |oclc=271597716}}</ref>

Needham's works attribute significant weight to the impact of [[Confucianism]] and [[Taoism]] on the pace of Chinese scientific discovery, and emphasises the "diffusionist" approach of Chinese science as opposed to a perceived independent inventiveness in the western world{{clarification needed|date=April 2025}}

His own research revealed a steady accumulation of scientific results throughout [[History of China|Chinese history]]. In the final volume he suggests "A continuing general and scientific progress manifested itself in traditional Chinese society but this was violently overtaken by the exponential growth of modern science after the Renaissance in Europe. China was [[homeostatic]], but never stagnant."<ref name="Joseph Needham 2004"/>

Needham himself concluded the rise of the bourgeoisie in Western Europe from the 15th century onwards to be one of the most important factors in answering the question, and he links the rise of capitalism to the development of the scientific method and the subsequent [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Joseph Needham |title=Science and Civilisation in China vol 7-2 p229}}</ref> Needham also concluded that the nature of Chinese script with its [[Logogram|thousands of individual characters]] constrained the ability of the 11th century Chinese invention of [[moveable type]] printing to contribute to the wider dissemination of knowledge. When, together with the invention of paper, these technologies reached Europe, the higher speed and lower cost of printing in [[alphabet]]ical languages with limited number of characters enabled an increase in the availability of knowledge at lower levels of society and the speed of its dissemination, accelerating progress.<ref>{{cite book |author=Joseph Needham |title=Science and Civilisation in China vol 7-2 pages 230-231}}</ref>

[[Nathan Sivin]], one of Needham's collaborators, while agreeing that Needham's achievement was monumental, suggested that the "Needham question", as a counterfactual hypothesis, did not have a useful answer:{{blockquote|It is striking that this question – Why didn't the Chinese beat Europeans to the Scientific Revolution? – happens to be one of the few questions that people often ask in public places about why something didn't happen in history. It is analogous to the question of why your name did not appear on page 3 of today's newspaper.{{sfnb|Sivin|1995}}}}

Yingqiu Liu and Chunjiang Liu argued that the issue rested on the minimal property rights available in the Chinese Empire, which were only obtainable through favour of the emperor and could be rescinded at any time. Innovations in science and technology were often appropriated by the government and their applications were governed by the immediate needs of the feudal royal family. The same feudal system was maintained through successive dynasties, with land and property reallocated first and foremost to the royal family of the new dynasty following a revolution. This continued up until the late Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) when fiefdom land was taken over by warlords and merchants. Liu and Liu argue that potential scientific innovations were therefore constrained by these limited property rights.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Liu|first=Yingqiu|author2=Chunjiang Liu|title=Diagnosing The Cause of Scientific Standstill, Unravelling The Needham Puzzle|journal=China Economist|date=2007|volume=10|pages=83–96}}</ref>

The Chinese Empire enacted totalitarian control and was able to do so because of its great size. There were smaller independent states that had no choice but to comply with this control. They could not afford to isolate themselves. The Chinese believed in the well-being of the state as their primary motive for economic activity, and individual initiatives were shunned. There were regulations on the press, clothing, construction, music, birth rates, and trade. The Chinese state controlled all aspects of life, severely limiting any incentives to innovate and to better one's self. "The ingenuity and inventiveness of the Chinese would no doubt have enriched China further and probably brought it to the threshold of modern industry, had it not been for this stifling state control. It is the State that kills technological progress in China".<ref>{{cite news|last=Balazs|first=Etienne|title=La bureaucratie céleste: recherches sur l'économie et la société de la Chine traditionnelle|newspaper=Presentation de Paul Demieville|date=1968}}</ref> Meanwhile, the lack of a free market in China escalated to a new affair whereby the Chinese were restricted from carrying trade with foreigners. Foreign trade is a great source of foreign knowledge as well as the capability of acquisition of new products. Foreign trade promotes innovation as well as the expansion of a countries market. As Landes (2006)<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=David S|first=Landes|date=Spring 2006|title=Why Europe and the West? Why Not China|journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives |volume=20|issue=2|pages=3–22|doi=10.1257/jep.20.2.3|doi-access=free}}</ref> further puts it, in 1368 when the new emperor Hongwu was inaugurated, his main objective was war. (p.&nbsp;6).<ref name=":1" /> A lot of revenue that can otherwise be used for innovative procedures are as a result lost in wars. Heavy participation in war significantly hindered the Chinese to have the capability of focusing on the industrial revolution. Landes (2006)<ref name=":1" /> further explains that Chinese were advised to stay put and never to move without permission from the Chinese state. As illustrated, "The Ming code of core laws also sought to block social mobility" (Landes, 2006, p.&nbsp;7).<ref name=":1" />

According to Justin Lin,<ref name="Lin 269–292">{{cite journal|last=Lin|first=Justin|date=January 1995|title=The Needham Puzzle: Why the Industrial Revolution Did Not Originate in China|url=http://www.econ.ucla.edu/workingpapers/wp650.pdf|journal=Economic Development and Cultural Change|volume=43|issue=2|pages=269–292|doi=10.1086/452150|s2cid=35637470|access-date=22 August 2020|archive-date=21 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921193931/http://www.econ.ucla.edu/workingpapers/wp650.pdf|url-status=dead}}<!--|access-date=27 February 2014--></ref> China did not make the shift from an experience-based technological invention process to an experiment-based innovation process. The experience-based process depended on the size of a population, and while new technologies have come about through the trials and errors of the peasants and artisans, experiment-based processes surpasses experience-based processes in yielding new technology. Progress from experimentation following the logic of a scientific method can occur at a much faster rate because the inventor can perform many trials during the same production period under a controlled environment. Results from experimentation is dependent on the stock of scientific knowledge while results from experience-based processes is tied directly to the size of a population; hence, experiment-based innovation processes have a higher likelihood of producing better technology as human capital grows. China had about twice the population of Europe until the 13th century and so had a higher probability of creating new technologies. After the 14th century, China's population grew exponentially, but progress in innovation saw diminishing returns.  Europe had a smaller population but began to integrate science and technology that arose from the scientific revolution in the 17th century. This scientific revolution gave Europe a comparative advantage in developing technology in modern times.

=== Evaluations and critiques ===
Needham's work has been criticised by many scholars{{clarification needed|date=April 2025}} who assert that it has a strong inclination to exaggerate [[List of Chinese inventions|Chinese technological achievements]] and has an excessive propensity to assume a Chinese origin for the wide range of objects his work covered. Pierre-Yves Manguin writes, for instance:
<blockquote>
J Needham's (1971) monumental work on Chinese [[Nautical|nautics]] offers by far the most
scholarly synthesis on the subjects of Chinese shipbuilding and navigation. His propensity to view the Chinese as the initiators of all things and his constant references to the superiority of Chinese over the rest of the world's techniques does at times
detract from his argument.<ref>Pierre-Yves Manguin: "Trading Ships of the South China Sea. Shipbuilding Techniques and Their Role in the History of the Development of Asian Trade Networks", ''Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient'', Vol. 36, No. 3. (1993), pp. 253–280 (268, Fn.26; Robert Finlay, "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China", Journal of World History 11 (Fall 2000): 265–303. 
</ref>
</blockquote>

In another vein of criticism, [[Andre Gunder Frank]]'s ''Re-Orient'' argues that despite Needham's contributions in the field of Chinese technological history, he still struggled to break free from his preconceived notions of European exceptionalism. Re-Orient criticizes Needham for his [[Eurocentric]] assumptions borrowed from [[Marx]] and the presupposition of Needham's famous Grand Question that science was a uniquely Western phenomenon. Frank observes:

<blockquote>
Alas, it was also
originally Needham's [[Marxist]] and [[Weberian]] point of departure. As
Needham found more and more evidence about science and technology
in China, he struggled to liberate himself from his Eurocentric original
sin, which he had inherited directly from Marx, as Cohen also observes.
But Needham never quite succeeded, perhaps because his concentration
on China prevented him from sufficiently revising his still ethnocentric
view of Europe itself.{{sfn|Frank|1998|p=189}}
</blockquote>

T.&nbsp;H. Barrett asserts in ''The Woman Who Discovered Printing'' that Needham was unduly critical of [[Buddhism]], describing it as having 'tragically played a part in strangling the growth of Chinese science,' to which Needham readily conceded in a conversation a few years later.{{sfn|Barrett|2008|p=134}} Barrett also criticizes Needham's favoritism and uncritical evaluation of [[Taoism]] in Chinese technological history:

<blockquote>
He had a tendency&nbsp;— not entirely justified in the light of more recent research&nbsp;— to think well of Taoism, because he saw it as playing a part that could not be found elsewhere in Chinese civilization. The mainstream school of thinking of the bureaucratic Chinese elite, or '[[Confucianism]]' (another problematic term) in his vocabulary, seemed to him to be less interested in science and technology, and to have 'turned its face away from Nature.' Ironically, the dynasty that apparently turned away from printing from 706 till its demise in 907 was as Taoist as any in Chinese history, though perhaps its 'state Taoism' would have seemed a corrupt and inauthentic business to Needham.{{sfn|Barrett|2008|p=135}}
</blockquote>

[[Daiwie Fu]], in the essay "On ''Mengxi bitan'''s World of Marginalities and 'South-pointing Needles': Fragment Translation vs. Contextual Tradition",  criticises Needham, among other Western scholars, for translations that select fragments deemed “scientific,” usually without appreciating the unity of the text, the context of the quotation, and taxonomy in which those fragments are embedded, then reorganize and reinterpret them in a new, Western taxonomy and narrative. Needham used this process of selection and re-assembly to argue for a Chinese tradition of science that did not exist as such.{{sfnb|Fu|1999}}

[[Justin Yifu Lin|Justin Lin]] argues against Needham's premise that China's early adoption of modern socioeconomic institutions contributed heavily to its technological advancement. Lin contends that technological advancements at this time were largely separate from economic circumstance, and that the effects of these institutions on technological advancement were indirect.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lin|first=Justin Yifu|date=1995|title=The Needham Puzzle: Why the Industrial Revolution Did Not Originate in China|jstor=1154499|journal=Economic Development and Cultural Change|volume=43|issue=2|pages=269–292|doi=10.1086/452150|s2cid=35637470|url=http://www.econ.ucla.edu/workingpapers/wp650.pdf|access-date=22 August 2020|archive-date=21 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230921193931/http://www.econ.ucla.edu/workingpapers/wp650.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Political involvement===
Needham's political views were unorthodox and his lifestyle controversial. His left-wing stance was based in a form of [[Christian socialism]]. However he was influenced by [[Louis Rapkine]] and [[Liliana Lubińska]], both [[Marxists]] brought up with a [[Jewish]] [[anti-clericism|anti-clerical]] outlook.<ref name="Blue">{{cite journal |last1=Blue |first1=Gregory |title=Joseph Needham, Heterodox Marxism and the Social Background to Chinese Science |journal=Science & Society |date=1998 |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=195–217 |jstor=40403699 |issn=0036-8237}}</ref> He never joined any [[Communist Party]].<ref name="Blue"/> After 1949 his sympathy with Chinese culture was extended to the new government. During his stay in China, Needham was asked to analyse some cattle cakes that had been scattered by American aircraft in the south of China at the end of World War II, and found they were impregnated with [[anthrax]].<ref>Robinson's reminiscences of Needham, in p. 235 of {{Citation| year=2004 | last1=Needham |first1=Joseph| last2=Robinson|first2=Kenneth G.| last3=Huang|first3=Jen-Yü|author1-link=Joseph Needham|title=Science and Civilisation in China|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=7, part II ''General Conclusions and Reflections''| title-link=Science and Civilisation in China }}</ref> During the [[Korean War]] he made further accusations that the Americans had used [[biological warfare]]. [[Zhou Enlai]] coordinated an international campaign to enlist Needham for a study commission, tacitly offering access to materials and contacts in China needed for his then early research. Needham agreed to be an inspector in [[North Korea]] and his report supported the [[Allegations of biological warfare in the Korean War|allegations]] (it is debated to this very day whether the evidence had been planted as a part of a complicated disinformation campaign{{cn|date=October 2025}}). Needham's biographer [[Simon Winchester]] claimed that "Needham was intellectually in love with communism; and yet communist spymasters and agents, it turned out, had pitilessly duped him." Needham was blacklisted by the US government until well into the 1970s.<ref>{{harvnb|Winchester|2008|p=212}} The incident is explored in Shiwei Chen, "History of Three Mobilisations: A Re-examination of the Chinese Biological Warfare Allegations against the United States in the Korean War," ''Journal of American-East Asian Relations'' 16.3 (2009): 213–247.</ref>

In 1965, with [[Derek Bryan (diplomat)|Derek Bryan]], a retired diplomat whom he first met in China, Needham established the [[Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding]], which for some years provided the only way for British subjects to visit the People's Republic of China. On a visit to China in 1964 he was met by Zhou Enlai, and in 1965 stated that "China has a better government now than for centuries",<ref>{{cite news | first = Charles  | last = Monck | periodical = [[Varsity (Cambridge)|Varsity]] | title = Mastership for Chinese Scholar | pages = 10–11  | date = 15 January 1966 }}</ref> but on a visit in 1972 he was deeply depressed by the changes under the [[Cultural Revolution]].

== Personal life ==
Needham married the biochemist [[Dorothy M. Needham|Dorothy Moyle]] (1896–1987) in 1924 and they became the first husband and wife both to be elected as [[Fellows of the Royal Society]].<ref name=Davies>{{cite news|title=Obituary: Joseph Needham|author=Mansel Davies|work=The Independent|date=27 March 2005|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/obituaryjoseph-needham-1612984.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220617/https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/obituaryjoseph-needham-1612984.html |archive-date=17 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=19 July 2010}}</ref>
Simon Winchester notes that, in his younger days, Needham was an avid [[gymnosophy|gymnosophist]] and he was always attracted by pretty women.<ref>{{harvnb|Winchester|2008|p=23}}</ref> When he and [[Lu Gwei-djen]] met in 1937, they fell deeply in love, which Dorothy accepted. The three of them eventually lived contentedly on the same road in Cambridge for many years. In 1989, two years after Dorothy's death, Needham married Lu, who died two years later. He suffered from [[Parkinson's disease]] from 1982, and died at the age of 94 at his Cambridge home.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Joseph Needham {{!}} British biochemist |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Needham|access-date=2021-12-11|website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Dr. Joseph Needham|url=https://www.jnfschk.org/dr-joseph-needham|access-date=2021-12-11|website=JNFSC|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=1995-03-26|title=OBITUARY:Joseph Needham|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/obituary-joseph-needham-1612984.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220617/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/obituary-joseph-needham-1612984.html |archive-date=17 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2021-12-11|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref>{{sfnb|GurdonRodbard|2000|p= }}<ref>{{Cite news|last=Lyall|first=Sarah|date=1995-03-27|title=Joseph Needham, China Scholar From Britain, Dies at 94|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/27/obituaries/joseph-needham-china-scholar-from-britain-dies-at-94.html|access-date=2021-12-11|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Lao She|url=https://chinesehsc.org/joseph_needham_lu_gwei-djen.shtml|access-date=2021-12-11|website=chinesehsc.org}}</ref> In 2008, the Chair of Chinese in the University of Cambridge, a post never awarded to Needham, was endowed in his honour as the [[Joseph Needham Professorship of Chinese History, Science, and Civilization|Joseph Needham Professorship of Chinese History, Science and Civilisation]].<ref>Sterckx, Roel, ''In the Fields of Shennong: An inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Cambridge on 30 September 2008 to mark the establishment of the Joseph Needham Professorship of Chinese History, Science and Civilisation.'' Cambridge: Needham Research Institute, 2008 ({{ISBN|0-9546771-1-0}}).</ref> Since 2016, an annual Needham Memorial Lecture is held at Clare College.

Needham was a high church [[Anglo-Catholic]] who worshipped regularly at [[Ely Cathedral]] and in the college chapel, but he also described himself as an "honorary [[Taoist]]".<ref>A Selection from the Writings of Joseph Needham ed Mansel Davies, The Book Guild 1990</ref>

==Honours and awards==
In 1961, Needham was awarded the [[George Sarton Medal]] by the [[History of Science Society]] and in 1966 he became Master of [[Gonville and Caius College]]. 
In 1979, Joseph Needham received the [[Dexter Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry]] from the [[American Chemical Society]].<ref name="ACSDexter2">{{cite web|url=http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/dexter.php|title=Dexter Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry|website=Division of the History of Chemistry|publisher=American Chemical Society|access-date=30 April 2015}}</ref>
In 1984, Needham became the fourth recipient of the J.D. Bernal Award, awarded by the Society for Social Studies of Science. In 1990, he was awarded the [[Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize]] by [[Fukuoka, Fukuoka|Fukuoka City]].

The [[Needham Research Institute]] in [[Robinson College]] in Cambridge, devoted to the study of China's scientific history, was opened in 1985 by [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]] and [[List of chancellors of the University of Cambridge|Chancellor of Cambridge University]].

* [[Order of the Companions of Honour]], 1992.<ref name="winchester250"/>
* [[British Academy]], 1971.<ref name="winchester238"/>
* [[Royal Society]], 1941.<ref name="winchester28-29"/>

== Works ==
* ''Science, Religion and Reality'' (1925)
* ''Man a Machine'' (1927) Kegan Paul
* ''Chemical Embryology'' (1931) C.U.P.
* ''The Great Amphibium: Four Lectures on the Position of Religion in a World Dominated by Science'' (1931)
* ''A History of Embryology'' (1934, 1959)   C.U.P.
* ''Order and Life'' The Terry Lectures (1936)
* ''Biochemistry and Morphogenesis'' (1942)
* ''Time: The Refreshing River (Essays and Addresses, 1932–1942)'' (1943)
* ''Chinese Science'' (1945) Pilot Press
* ''History Is On Our Side'' (1947)
* ''Science Outpost; Papers of the Sino-British Science Co-Operation Office (British Council Scientific Office in China) 1942–1946'' (1948) Pilot Press
* ''[[Science and Civilisation in China]]'' (1954–2008...) C.U.P. – 27 volumes to date
* ''The Grand Titration: Science and Society in East and West'' (1969) Allen & Unwin
* ''Within the Four Seas: The Dialogue of East and West'' (1969)
* ''Clerks and Craftsmen in China and the West: Lectures and Addresses on the History of Science and Technology'' (1970) C.U.P.
* ''Chinese Science: Explorations of an Ancient Tradition'' (1973) Ed. [[Shigeru Nakayama]], [[Nathan Sivin]]. Cambridge : MIT Press
* ''Moulds of Understanding: A Pattern of Natural Philosophy'' (1976) Allen & Unwin
* ''The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China'' (5 volumes) (1980–95) – an abridgement by [[Colin Ronan]]
* ''Science in Traditional China : A Comparative Perspective'' (1982)
* ''The Genius of China''  (1986) A one-volume distillation by [[Robert K. G. Temple|Robert Temple]] Simon & Schuster
* ''Heavenly Clockwork : The Great Astronomical Clocks of Medieval China'' (1986) C.U.P.
* ''The Hall of Heavenly Records : Korean Astronomical Instruments and Clocks, 1380–1780'' (1986) C.U.P.
* ''A Selection from the Writings of Joseph Needham'' ed Mansel Davies, The Book Guild 1990

==See also==
* [[Four Great Inventions]]
* [[G. E. R. Lloyd]]
* [[List of sinologists]]
* [[List of historians]]
* ''[[The Rise of the West]]''

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
; Biographical
* {{cite journal |last1 = Gurdon |first1 = J. B. |author1-link = John Gurdon |last2 = Rodbard |first2 = Barbara |doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1999.0091 |title = Joseph Needham, C.H. 9 December 1900–24 March 1995: Elected F.R.S. 1941 |journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] |volume = 46 |page = 365 |year = 2000 |jstor=770406 |doi-access = free }}
* Sarah Lyall. [https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/27/obituaries/joseph-needham-china-scholar-from-britain-dies-at-94.html "Joseph Needham, China Scholar from Britain, Dies at 94"], ''The New York Times.'' 27 March 1995.
* {{cite journal |last1=Mayer |first1=Anna-K. |title=Setting up a discipline, II: British history of science and 'the end of ideology', 1931–1948 |journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science |date=2004 |volume=35 |pages=41–72 |doi=10.1016/j.shpsa.2003.12.010}}
* Robert P. Multhauf, "Joseph Needham (1900–1995)," ''Technology and Culture'' 37.4 (1996):  880–891. {{JSTOR|3107121}}.
* {{cite magazine |last1=Spence |first1=Jonathan |title=The Passions of Joseph Needham |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2008/08/14/the-passions-of-joseph-needham/ |publisher=New York Review of Books |access-date=24 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220724042731/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2008/08/14/the-passions-of-joseph-needham/?utm_source=chinafile&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=none |archive-date=24 July 2022 |location=China File |date=14 August 2008 |url-status=bot: unknown }}.
* Roel Sterckx. ''In the Fields of Shennong: An inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Cambridge on 30 September 2008 to mark the establishment of the Joseph Needham Professorship of Chinese History, Science and Civilization''. Cambridge: Needham Research Institute, 2008 ({{ISBN|0-9546771-1-0}}).
* {{cite book |last = Winchester |first = Simon |year = 2008 |title = The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom |url = https://archive.org/details/manwholovedchina00simo_0 |url-access = registration |location = New York |publisher = [[HarperCollins]] |isbn = 978-0-06-088459-8 }} Published in Great Britain as ''Bomb, Book and Compass''.
:: A popular biography characterized by Nathan Siven as a "sniggering biography by a writer who specializes in rollicking tales of English eccentrics" and is "unprepared to deal with [Needham's] historic work." —{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199920082/obo-9780199920082-0006.xml#obo-9780199920082-0006-bibItem-0003|title=The Needham Question|last=Sivin|first=Nathan|year=2013|series=Oxford Bibliographies}}
* Francesca Bray, "How Blind Is Love?: Simon Winchester's ''The Man Who Loved China''{{-"}}, ''Technology and Culture ''51.3 (2010):  578–588. {{JSTOR|40927987}}.

; The "Needham Question"
* Elvin, Mark, "Introduction (Symposium: The Work of Joseph Needham)", ''Past & Present'' no. 87 (1980): 17–20. {{JSTOR|650562}}.
* Cullen, Christopher, "Joseph Needham on Chinese Astronomy," ''Past & Present'' no. 87 (1980):  39–53. {{JSTOR|650565}}.
* {{Cite book|first= Daiwie|last= Fu|author-link= Fu Daiwie|chapter-url= http://books.openedition.org/editionsmsh/1494|chapter= On ''Mengxi bitan''{{'}}s World of Marginalities and 'South-pointing Needles': Fragment Translation vs. Contextual Tradition|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131206174303/http://books.openedition.org/editionsmsh/1494|archive-date= 6 December 2013|editor1-last= Alleton|editor1-first= Vivianne|editor2-first= Michael|editor2-last= Lackner|title= De l'un au multiple: traductions du chinois vers les langues européennes Translations from Chinese into European Languages|series= Les Editions de la MSH, [[:fr:Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme|FR]]|year= 1999|pages= 176–201|publisher= Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme|place= Paris|isbn= 273510768X}}
* {{Cite book |first = Nathan |last = Sivin |chapter = Why the Scientific Revolution Did Not Take Place in China – Or Didn't It? |pages = Ch VII |title = Science in Ancient China |editor = Sivin, Nathan |location = Aldershot, Hants |publisher = Variorum |year = 1995 |chapter-url = http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~nsivin/scirev.pdf }}
* Justin Y. Lin, "The Needham Puzzle: Why the Industrial Revolution Did Not Originate in China," ''Economic development and cultural change'' 43.2  (1995):  269–292. {{JSTOR|1154499}}.
* Timothy Brook, "The Sinology of Joseph Needham," ''Modern China ''22.3 (1996):  340–348. {{JSTOR|189191}}.
* Robert P. Multhauf, "Joseph Needham (1900–1995)," ''Technology and Culture ''37.4 (1996):  880–891. {{JSTOR|3107121}}.
* Gregory Blue, "Joseph Needham, Heterodox Marxism and the Social Background to Chinese Science," ''Science & Society ''62.2 (1998):  195–217. {{JSTOR|40403699}}.
* Robert Finlay, "China, the West, and World History in Joseph Needham's ''Science and Civilisation in China''," ''Journal of World History ''11 (Fall 2000): 265–303.
* {{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199920082/obo-9780199920082-0006.xml#obo-9780199920082-0006-bibItem-0003|title=The Needham Question|last=Sivin|first=Nathan|year=2013|series=Oxford Bibliographies}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{citation|last=Barrett|first=Timothy Hugh|title=The Woman Who Discovered Printing|year=2008|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|location=Great Britain|isbn=978-0-300-12728-7}} (alk. paper)
* {{citation|last=Frank|first=Andre Gunder|title=ReORIENT|year=1998|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|location=Berkeley and Los Angeles, California|isbn=9780520214743|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/reorient00andr}} 
* Yoke, Ho Peng. ''Reminiscences of a Roving Scholar: Science, Humanities and Joseph Needham''. xii, 240 pp. Singapore: [[World Scientific Publishing]], 2005.

== External links ==

; English
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110724112804/http://triplejtv.net/local/stories/2009/05/14/2570645.htm Interview with biographer Simon Winchester on ABC Brisbane] September 2000
* [http://www.nri.cam.ac.uk/ Needham Research Institute] (NRI)
* [http://www.nri.cam.ac.uk/science.html ''Science and Civilisation in China'']
*[http://pioneer.netserv.chula.ac.th/~hsoraj/web/APPEND.html Asian Philosophy and Critical Thinking] Divergence or Convergence?
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20031009013557/http://www.ihns.ac.cn/needhamrelated.htm Guide to manuscripts by British scientists]: N, O.
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0038x9m BBC Radio4 'In Our Time'] audio stream on the Needham Question.
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Joseph Needham |sopt=t}}
*[http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11496751 Question marks: Chinese invention] – The Economist, 5 June 2008, review of Needham biography by Simon Winchester
*[http://www.nri.cam.ac.uk/JN_wartime_photos/home.htm Needham's wartime photos in China]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150222133553/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/CHIN-02-180215.html The Answer to the Needham Question?]
*[http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009774 Imperial War Museum Interview]
*[http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/needham Joseph Needham Collection] of digitised photographs and journals from the NRI archive in [[Cambridge Digital Library]]

; Chinese
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040218164555/http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/world/2003-03/09/content_767365.htm Xinhua：Today's NRI]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080316123225/http://www.ihns.ac.cn/news/2004/reference%20for%20needham%20studies.htm Papers in Chinese 1991–2004 on Needham and his Grand Question]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040108021127/http://www.guxiang.com/lishi/shihua/mingjia/200306/200306190026.htm Needham and his early knowledge on Chinese culture]

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{{s-bef|before=[[Nevill Francis Mott|Sir Nevill Francis Mott]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Master of [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge|Gonville and Caius College]]|years=1966–1976}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William Wade (legal scholar)|Sir William Wade]]}}
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{{Gonville and Caius Masters}}
{{Chinese Academy of Sciences}}
{{Leonardo da Vinci Medal |state = collapsed }}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Needham, Joseph}}
[[Category:Joseph Needham| ]]
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[[Category:20th-century British historians]]
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[[Category:British biochemists]]
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[[Category:British expatriates in China]]
[[Category:British historians of science]]
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[[Category:British sinologists]]
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[[Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in England]]
[[Category:Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]
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[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
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[[Category:People educated at Oundle School]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Fukuoka Prize]]
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