Joseph Needham Foundation for Science and Civilization

The Joseph Needham Foundation for Science and Civilization (JNFSC) is an educational foundation based in Hong Kong, launched in 1981. Its mission is to promote the scholarly legacy of Joseph Needham in Hong Kong and beyond for the educational benefit of students and the general public, through outreach activities such as the Joseph Needham Memorial Lecture, symposia, endowed professorships and graduate fellowships, and a joint EDB-JNFSC STEM public lecture series, exhibitions and other outreach events.

The Joseph Needham Foundation for Science and Civilization was launched in Hong Kong in 1981. Its Chairman's Remark states that in 1979 the East Asian History of Science Trust was established in Hong Kong as a branch of the UK Trust, two years after a similar USA Trust was incorporated in New York; the objective of the Hong Kong Trust was to raise funds for the construction of a building for Dr. Joseph Needham's East Asian History of Science Library in Cambridge, whereas the New York Branch was mainly to seek funding for sustaining the UK operations so that Dr. Needham could continue to focus on his Science and Civilisation in China series. The Chairman notes that the success of the Foundation and the contributions to the UK Trust in the 90s were made possible by many dedicated fellow directors, singling out the late Dr. Philip Mao, the founding Chairman, and Dr. K.P. Li, whom the Chairman succeeded in 2014. The Foundation's history page also records that the East Asian History of Science Trust, U.K. (subsequently renamed The Needham Research Institute) was set up in England in the early 1960s by a group of Dr. Needham supporters, and that the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge was completed in 1992; it further records that the East Asian History of Science Foundation USA was founded in late 1977 after Dr. Joseph Needham was granted a visa to the US to accept an honorary degree at the University of Chicago in June 1977.

Educational foundation promoting the scholarly legacy of Joseph Needham for the educational benefit of students and the general public.

1. 1Home | JNFSCjnfschk.org
2. 2History | JNFSCjnfschk.org
3. 3Joseph Needham Foundation for Science and Civilizationwikidata.org