Needham’s Dialogical Vision: Understanding Science as a Multi-Civilizational Outcome

Venue: HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study
08:30 - 09:00	Registration and Refreshments
09:00 - 09:15	Welcoming & Introductory Remarks Dr. Peter L. LEE (Chairman, JNFSC & Chair, Needham Conference Organizing Committee) Professor Nancy Yuk-Yu IP (President, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)) Professor Martin JONES, Chairman, Needham Research Institute
09:15 - 09:45	Opening Keynote Address Professor LEE Chack-fan (Director of the HKU – Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole)
09:45 - 10:00	Tea Break
Panel 1: Historical Sociology in Dialogue Chair: Arun Bala
10:00 - 11:00	The Oceanic Paradigm of Historical Flows Prasenjit DUARA (Duke University)
	Revisiting the Needham Question: Beyond Transmissionism in Critiquing Eurocentricism Raymond W.K. LAU (Hong Kong Metropolitan University)
	Extending Needham’s Vision of Science: A Decolonial Perspective Tung-yi KHO (Lingnan University)
11:00 - 11:30	Questions and Answers
11:30 - 13:30	Group Photo & Lunch
Panel 2: Cosmologies in Dialogue Chair: Roger Hart
13:30 - 14:30	Persian Astronomy in China Bill M. MAK (Needham Research Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom / The ISF Academy)
	Needham’s Question: Did Needham Need to Pose It? Is it Misposed? Keekok LEE (University of Manchester)
	Sufera-no nuigaki (Selection on the Sphere): A Newly Discovered Japanese Cosmology Textbook to the Jesuits during Japan’s “Christian Century” Ryuji HIRAOKA (Kyoto University)
14:30 - 15:00	Questions and Answers
15:00 - 15:20	Tea Break
Panel 3: Cosmologies in Dialogue Chair: Imre Galambos
15:20 - 16:20	Needham’s Question from Perspective of Islamic Science George SALIBA (American University of Beirut)
	The Circulation of Babylonian Astral Science with some comments on ‘Questions’ in the History of Science John STEELE (Brown University)
	Scientific Exchanges with Qing China and the Formation of Local Science in Eighteenth-Century Korea Jongtae LIM (Seoul National University)
16:20 - 16:50	Questions & Answers
16:50 - 17:10	Tea Break
Panel 4: Natural Sciences in Dialogue Chair: Raymond W.K. Lau
17:10 - 18:10	Understanding Science as a Multi-Civilizational Outcome: The Early History of Linear Algebra Roger HART (Texas Southern University)
	Liberating Mathematics from Civilizations George Gheverghese JOSEPH (University of Manchester)
	The Physiology and Psychology of Vision in Ibn al-Haytham’s Optics Nader EL-BIZRI (University of Sharjah)
18:10 - 18:30	Questions & Answers
19:00 - 21:30	Conference Dinner

 

Venue: HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study
08:30 - 08:50	Registration
Panel 5: Natural Sciences in Dialogue Chair: Gordon McOUAT
08:50 - 09:50	Practical and “Precise” Geographic Knowledge of the World Developed in the Premodern Chinese and Islamic Worlds through Multi-Civilizational Connections and Contacts Hyunhee PARK (City University of New York)
	Certain Joseph Needham’s Views and Achievements in the History of Science and Technology in China Joseph Cheng-Yih CHEN (University of California San Diego)
	Connected Cartographies: A Jesuit 17th Century Manuscript Map of East Asia and its East Asian Sources Marco CABOARA (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)
09:50 - 10:20	Questions and Answers
10:20 - 10:40	Tea Break
Panel 6: Medical Traditions in Dialogue Chair: Keekok Lee
10:40 - 12:00	Dialogues Among Healers: Herbal Medicine in the Dutch East Indies during the 19th Century Hans POLS (University of Sydney)
	Rethinking Mutual Medical Influence Between China and the West Bridie ANDREWS (Bentley University)
	In Search for the Right Point: Refashioning Acupuncture with Experiments and Standards Wen-Hua KUO (National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University)
	The Survival of Old Book Forms on the Peripheries Imre GALAMBOS (University of Cambridge)
12:00 - 12:40	Questions and Answers
12:40 - 14:00	Lunch
Panel 7: Modes of Inquiry in Dialogue Chair: Bill M. Mak
14:00 - 15:20	Dialogue and Comparison Compared H. Floris COHEN (Utrecht University)
	Explaining the Rise of Modern Science: A Dialogical Perspective Arun BALA (Independent Scholar)
	Mathematics in India: Some Conceptual Themes Sundar SARUKKAI (Formerly, National Institute of Advanced Studies)
	From Unilinear Lineages to Indira Nets: How an East/West Encounter Offered a New Model of Knowledge Encounter and Exchange Gordon MCOUAT (University of King’s College / Dalhousie University)
15:20 - 16:00	Questions and Answers
16:00 - 16:30	Tea Break
16:30 - 18:00	Wrap-Up & Roundtable Wrap-Up with Young Needham Scholars
18:00 - 18:30	Break
19:00 - 21:30	End of Conference Informal Buffet Dinner

 

The 13^th Joseph Needham Memorial Lecture Series

Venue: Hong Kong Palace Museum, West Kowloon Cultural District, 8 Museum Drive Kowloon, Hong Kong
09:00 - 09:30	Opening Remarks: Tributes to Dr. Joseph Needham Dr. Peter L. LEE (Chairman, JNFSC) Professor Martin K. JONES (Chairman, NRI) Dr. Louis NG, (Director, Hong Kong Palace Museum)
09:30 - 11:00	The Process of Learning and Surpassing in the Advancement of Science and Civilizations Professor LEE Chack Fan (Director of the HKU – Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole)
	Technologies of the Book in Dunhuang during the 9th and 10th Centuries Professor Imre GALAMBOS (East Asian Studies, University of Cambridge)
	Babylonian and Chinese Astronomy: Comparison, Circulation, and Dialogue Professor John STEELE (Brown University)
11:00 - 11:15	Tea & Coffee Break
11:15 - 12:45	Public Forum with Invited Speakers Professor LEE Chack Fan (Director of the HKU – Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole) Professor MEI Jianjun (Director, Needham Research Institute) Dr. Bill MAK (Research Associate, Needham Research Institute / Director of Chinese Research Center, The ISF Academy) Dr. Arun BALA (Conference Chair)
12:45 - 13:00	Concluding Remarks and Closing Ceremony