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STAFF AND RESEARCHERS

DIRECTOR:    Professor Christopher Cullen
LIBRARIAN:    Mr. John Moffett
INSTITUTE ADMINISTRATOR: Ms. Susan Bennett
BURSAR:    Brigadier Tim Thompson
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RESEARCHERS

Professor Sir Geoffrey Lloyd  -  Scholar in Residence

Sasakawa Foundation Research and Teaching Fellow in Japanese Science and Technology

Gerard Clinton Godart
grg25@cam.ac.uk
(NRI and Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge)

After studying philosophy and history in Leuven, Osaka, and Kyoto, Clinton received his PhD from the department of history at The University of Chicago. His research involves the intellectual history of modern Japan, especially the interconnections between science, religion, and philosophy. He is currently working on a book project, based on his dissertation, titled Darwin in Japan: Evolutionary Theory and Japan’s Modernity. This project is a broad rethinking of the roles evolutionary theory played in Japan from the late nineteenth century into the postwar era. Darwin in Japan involves not only biology, but also how philosophers, Christians, Buddhists, state officials as well as anarchists, conceived and used evolution, and therefore serves as a platform to think about larger issues such as the relation between science and religion, and science and the modern state. At the Needham Research Institute, he will focus among others on the controversial biologist Imanishi Kinji, and the influence of Soviet biology (Lysenkoism) in postwar era Japan.

ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION RESEARCH FELLOWS

Hu Cheng 胡成 Oct. 2009-Mar.2010
Cheng.hucheng@gmail.com
(Department of History, Nanjing University)

Meha Priyadarshini  January – April 2010
mp2417@columbia.edu
(Dept. of History, Columbia University)

Meha Priyadarshini is a Ph.D. candidate in the history department at Columbia University, New York. She is studying the porcelain trade to colonial Mexico via the Manila Galleon. During her time at the Needham Research Institute she will study the history of porcelain production in Jingdezhen.

Zhang Meifang 章梅芳 Jan. 2010-Jul.2010
zhangmeifang@gmail.com
(Research Center for Science, Technology and Civilization, University of Science & Technology, Beijing)

Dr. Yin Xiaodong 尹晓冬 - Jan. 2010-Jul.2010
xiaodongstone@sohu.com
(Physics Department, Capital Normal University, Beijing)

Dr. Yin Xiaodong received her Ph.D on “Firearm-making Technology and Knowledge about Trajectory Introduced into China from the West in the 16-17th centuries” at the Institute for the History of Natural Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2007. She then worked on “The History and Foundation of Quantum Theory” at the Max –Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin as a Postdoctoral fellow in 2007-2008. During her stay at the Institute, she will focus on the academic activities of Chinese physicists educated in Great Britain in the first half of the 20th century and their influence on Chinese physics education and research. She will also study the role of Joseph Needham and the Sino-British Science Co-operation Office in war-time China on the development of modern science in China, with special emphasis on physics.

LI FOUNDATION VISITING FELLOW

SINO-BRITISH FELLOWSHIP TRUST VISITING FELLOW

Chen Pu 陈朴 September – December 2009
chenpu@live.com
(Research Center of Science & Technology History and Development Strategy, Harbin Institute of Technology)

Chen Pu’s research focus is mechanical engineering in ancient China. During his stay at the NRI, he will be working on the development of the cart and its influence on social change in the Pre-Qin Period.

OTHER VISITING SCHOLARS

Dr. Catherine Jami - September 2004-2005.
jami@paris7.jussieu.fr
Dr. Jami is chargée de recherche at CNRS, Paris. She has published extensively on 17th and 18th century Chinese mathematics, as well as on the Jesuits and the reception of the science they introduced in the late Ming and early Qing period.  She is currently the French Government Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge. During her time at the Institute, she is completing the research and writing for her book on science, Western learning, and the construction of the state in China during the Kangxi reign (1662-1722).
See her webpage here

Dr. Mei Jianjun 梅建军 - January to March, 2010
meijianjun12@yahoo.com.cn
(Institute of Historical Metallurgy and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing)

Dr. Mei Jianjun is a professor and director of the Institute of Historical Metallurgy and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing. He received his Ph. D. on early copper and bronze metallurgy in Xinjiang at the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge in 2000. His major research field is archaeometry and the history of metallurgy in China. During his stay at the Institute, he will focus on the origins and early development of copper and bronze technology in China. His research is part of the Science and Civilization in China project (volume on Non-ferrous metallurgy in ancient China).

Kenji Ito 伊藤憲二　December 2009-March 2010
ito_kenji@soken.ac.jp
(The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Hayama, Japan)

Kenji Ito teaches STS as an associate professor at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Hayama, Japan.  He is interested in cultural and historical aspects of science and technology, transmission of scientific knowledge, and reproduction of scientific personnel, with the main focus on the history of physics in 20^th century Japan.  At the Needham Research Institute, he is working on a book project about the introduction of quantum mechanics into Japan.

Xie Yonggang 谢永刚 Oct. 2009-Oct.2010
xieyg2005@163.com    xieyg@hlju.edu.cn
(Institute of Disaster Economics, Heilongjiang University)

Dr. You Yang 尤洋 October 2009 – April 2010
youyang@sxu.edu.cn
(Research Center on Philosophy of Science and Technology, Shanxi University)

Dr. You’s research focuses on the philosophy of social science and social epistemology. During his stay at the NRI, he will be working on analyzing the development and practical influence of social epistemology and constructing a contextual social epistemology.

Guo Mingshan郭明杉 September-December 2009
hitgmshan@yahoo.com.cn
(Research Center of Science & Technology History and Development Strategy, Harbin Institute of Technology)

VISITING PHD STUDENTS

Mr. LIU Xinyi
(Department of Anthropology, University of Cambridge)
xl241@cam.ac.uk
Millet in Neolithic China.

Jiri Hudecek
(Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge)
jh602@cam.ac.uk

Jiri Hudecek graduated in Sinology at Charles University, Prague. Having been awarded the NRI Studentship in East Asian History of Science, Technology and Medicine, he received in 2008 an M.Phil. in History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science, Technology and Medicine at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, and is currently a Ph.D. student there. His research topic is the Chinese mathematician Wu Wen-Tsun (Wu Wenjun) and his inspiration in traditional Chinese mathematics, but he is also interested in traditional Chinese mathematics, sociology of mathematics and different uses of the history of science in general.