Permanently Endowed Professorships
The Joseph Needham Professorship
of Chinese History, Science and Civilization
(at The University of Cambridge, UK)
Professor Roel Sterckx
In honor of Dr. Needham’s scholarly legacy at Cambridge, the East Asian History of Science Foundation Hong Kong established a permanently endowed professorship in 2008. Professor Roel Sterckx, Chair of the Department of East Asian Studies at Cambridge, and one of the leading experts on pre-modern China, was appointed to this prestigious endowed position. His contributions to the history of Chinese science include work on Chinese Zoology, medical illustrations, and the natural environment.
Prof Sterckx delivered the 7th Joseph Needham Memorial Lecture at the University of Hong Kong on 18 December 2008, entitled “ Naturalist Illustration in Traditional China”.
https://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/people/professor-roel-sterckx-fba
The Joseph Needham-Philip Mao Professorship
in Chinese History, Science and Civilization
(at The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)
Professor Angela Ki-che Leung
Subsequent to the establishment of the endowed professorship at Cambridge, the East Asian History of Science Foundation Hong Kong established a second endowed professorship, this time at the University of Hong Kong in 2012. This was a fitting tribute to both Dr. Needham and to its founding chairman, the late Dr. Philp W.C. Mao
Professor Angela Ki-che Leung, Chair Professorship of History and Director of the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong, was appointed to this position. Professor Leung’s research interest is diseases and medical culture in South China, particularly in the Canton/Hong Kong region, in the global and colonial context of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her broader interests are in the history of science, medicine and technology in pre-modern and modern East Asia.
