Poverty

[Anand Venkt Raman]

Dominik Wujastyk <ucgadkw at ucl.ac.uk> writes:

>successful in creating the desired "modern lifestyle", were in most
>cases created abroad.  The most famous wrestler with this question is
>perhaps Joseph Needham, who seems to have believed, unfortunately, that
>absolutely everything was discovered first in China.

I do agree with much of what Dominik has said. However, I would like
to point out that the implicit derision of Prof Needham in his note is
probably unwarranted, or undeserved to say the least. We must note
that before Needham invested his total interest in Chinese Science, he
was himself a Biologist and a scientist of good repute. Indeed, he has
written much to establish his reputation as not only a good scientist,
but also a good philosopher and historian of science who was well
acquainted with the scientific method. All his claims are backed by
empirical evidence some of which are preserved in the Needham Institute
in the UK.

- &