Hong Kong Palace Museum | The 13th Joseph Needham Memorial Lecture Series: Understanding Science as a Multi-Civilisational Outcome

In the 13th Joseph Needham Memorial Lecture Series, three speakers explore the rise of modern science and the significance of interactions among ancient Chinese, Indian, Arabic, Persian, and European civilisations in its development through the centuries. The first lecture examines the process of learning from predecessors and surpassing them subsequently, and its significance in the advancement of science and human civilisation. The second lecture explains the technologies of the book in Dunhuang during the 9th and 10th centuries. The third lecture compares several aspects of Babylonian and Chinese astronomy to better understand their similarities and differences, as well as the possible links between these astronomical traditions.

Lecture 1
Lecture Topic: The Process of Learning and Surpassing in the Advancement of Science and Civilisations
Speaker: Professor Lee Chack Fan
About the Speaker: Professor Lee is the Director of the Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, and the former Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Hong Kong.

Lecture 2
Lecture Topic: Technologies of the Book in Dunhuang during the 9th and 10th Centuries
Speaker: Professor Imre Galambos
About the Speaker: Professor Galambos teaches Chinese at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies in the University of Cambridge. He is an expert on medieval Chinese manuscripts, with a focus on materials excavated at sites along the Silk Road.

Lecture 3
Lecture Topic: Babylonian and Chinese Astronomy: Comparison, Circulation, and Dialogue
Speaker: Professor John Steele
About the Speaker: Professor Steele is Professor of the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity at Brown University. He is an expert on the history of Babylonian astronomy and astrology.

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