Joseph Needham, the Man Who Loved China

Joseph Needham (1900-1995) was a brilliant scholar and later a brilliant eccentric scientist, particularly fascinated with China and all things Chinese. In 1937 he met the love of his life (although he remained happily it seemed to his wife), Lu Gwei-djen, a Chinese graduate scholar who came to work with him at Cauis College. Gwei-djen taught him Chinese and his love for China and his paramour remained until his death nearly six decades later. In those intervening years, he traveled extensively in China, gathering written tomes of knowledge of China and meeting individuals who could explain more about China and its ancient past. In 1948, he proposed a project to the Cambridge University Press for writing a book on Science and Civilisation in China. The project was accepted and consumed the rest of Needham's life. He wrote prolifically and yet his amassed knowledge just never seemed to confine the great knowledge and achievements of the hitherto unknown and unacknowledged record of inventive superiority. When his first volume came out, written almost singularly by himself, the world was amazed ... and all 5,000 copies sold out, and in even though printed in regular intervals, the book has never to this day gone out of print!

Following are a list of inventions alone that the Chinese in their inventive brilliance achieved. What really puzzled Needham, the Needham question he never could really answer, was "Why did China suddenly stop inventing around 1500AD, when they had already achieved so much, but the West was to prove that from about this date, that there still was so much to achieve?" The question stumped him, and still continues to provoke question and query amongst sinologists today.

Source

CHINESE INVENTIONS and DISCOVERIES 

(with dates of first documentation as discovered/compiled by Joseph Needham in his multiple volume anthologies on Science and Civilisation in China):

Abacus	AD 190
Acupuncture	580 BC
Advisory vessels	3rd century BC
Air-conditioning fan	AD 180
Alcohol made from grain by a special fermentation process	15th century BC
Algorithm for extraction for square and cube roots	1st century AD
Anatomy	11th century AD
Anchor, nonfouling stockless	1st century AD
Anemometer	3rd century AD
Antimalaria drugs	3rd century AD
Arcuballista, multiple-bolt	320 BC
Arcuballista, multiple-spring	5th century AD
Asbestos woven into cloth	3rd century BC
Astronomical cloth drive	AD 120
Axial rudder	1st century AD
Ball bearings	2nd century BC
Balloon principle	2nd century BC
Bean curd	AD 100
Bell, pottery	3rd millennium BC
Bellows, double-acting piston-tuned bronze	6th century BC
Belt drive	5th century
Beriberi, recognition of	AD 1330
Blast furnace	3rd century BC
Blood, distinction between arterial and venous	2nd century BC
Blood, theory of circulation	2nd century BC
Boats and ships, paddle-wheel	AD 418
Bomb, cast-iron	AD 1221
Bomb, thrown from a trebuchet	AD 1161
Book, printed, first to be dated	AD 868
Book, scientific, printed	AD 847
Bookcase, vertical axis	AD 544
Bookworm repellent
Bowl, bronze water-spouting	3rd century BC
Bread, steamed
Bridges, releasable	4th century BC
Bridges, iron-chain suspension	6th century AD
Bridges, Li Chhun’s segmental arch	AD 610
Bronze, high tin, for mirror production
Bronze rainbow teng (camphor still)	1st century BC
Calipers	AD 9
Camera obscura, explanation of	AD 1086
“Cardan” suspension	140 BC
Cast iron	5th century BC
Cast iron—malleable	4th century BC
Cereals, preservation of stored	1st century BC
Chain drive	AD 976
Chess	4th century BC
Chimes, stone	9th century BC
Chopsticks	600 BC
Clocks, sand	AD 1370
Clocks, Su Sung’s	AD 1088
Clockwork escapement of Yi Xing and Liang Lingzan	AD 725
Coal, as a fuel	1st century AD
Coal, dust, briquettes from	1st century AD
Coinage	9th century BC
Collapsible umbrella and other items	5th century BC
Comet tails, observation of direction of	AD  635
Compass, floating fish	AD 1027
Compass, magnetic needle	Ad 1088
Cooking pots, heat economy in	3rd millennium BC
Crank handle	1st century BC
Crop rotation	6th century BC
Crossbow	5th century BC
Crossbow, bronze triggers	300 BC
Crossbow, grid sight for	1st century AD
Crossbow, magazine	13th century AD
Dating of trees by number of rings	12th century AD
Decimal place value	13th century BC
Deep drilling and use of natural gas as fuel	2nd century BC
Diabetes, association with sweet and fatty foods	1st century BC
Dial and pointer	3rd century AD
Differential pressure
Disease, diurnal rhythms in	2nd century BC
Diseases, deficiency	3rd century AD
Dishing of carriage wheel
Distillation of mercury	3rd century BC
Dominoes	AD 1120
Downdraft	1st century BC
Dragon kiln	2nd century AD
Draw loom	1st century AD
Drum carriage	110 BC
Diked/poldered fields	1st century BC
Ephedrine	2nd century AD
Equal temperament, mathematical formulation of	AD 1584
Equilibrium, theory of	4th century BC
Erosion and sedimentary deposition, knowledge of	AD 1070
Esculentist movement (edible plants for time of famine)	AD 1406
Ever-normal granary system	AD 9
Fertilizers	2nd century BC
Firecrackers	AD 290
Firelance	AD 950
Flame test
Flamethrower (double-acting force pump for liquids)	AD 919
Folding chairs	3rd century AD
Free reed	1000 BC
Fumigation	7th century BC
Furnace, reverberatory	1st century BC
Gabions	3rd century BC
Gauges, rain and snow	AD 1247
Gear wheels, chevron-toothed	AD 50
Ginning machine, hand-cranked, and treadle	17th century AD
Gluten from wheat	AD 530
Gold, purple sheen	200 BC
Grafting	AD 806
Gravimetry	AD 712
Great Wall of China	3rd century BC
Grid technique, quantitative, used in cartography	AD 130
Guan xien system	240 BC
Gunpowder, formula for	9th century AD
Gunpowder, firecracker and fireworks	12th century AD
Gunpowder, government’s department and monopoly on	14th century AD
Gunpowder, used in mining	Ming
Handcarts	681 BC
Handgun	AD 1128
Harness, breast strap	250 BC
Harness, collar	AD 477
Helicopter top	AD 320
High temperatures, firing of clay at	2nd millennium BC
Hodometer	110 BC
Holing-irons	AD 584
“Hot streak” test	AD 1596
Hygrometer	120 BC
Indeterminate analysis	4th century AD
Interconversion of longitudinal and rotary motion	AD 31
Kite	4th century BC
Knife, rotary disk, for cutting jade	12th century AD
Lacquer	13th century BC
Ladders, extendable	4th century BC
Leeboards and centerboards	AD 751
Loadstone, south-pointing ladle	AD 83
Magic mirrors	5th century AD
Magic squares	AD 190
Magnetic declination noted	AD 1040
Magnetic thermoremanence and induction	AD 1044
Magnetic variation observed	AD 1436
Magnetism, used in medicine	AD 970
Malt sugar, production of	1st millennium BC
Mangonel	4th century BC
Maps, relief	AD 1086
Maps, topographical	3rd century BC
Masts, multiple	3rd century AD
Matches (nonstriking)	AD 577
Melodic composition	AD 475
Metal amalgams used to fill cavities	AD 659
Metals, to oxides, burning of	5th century BC
Metals, densities of	3rd century AD
Mill, wagon	AD 340
Mills, edge-runner	200 BC
Mills, edge-runner, water-power applied	4th century AD
Mining, square sets for	5th century BC
Mining, differential pressure ventilation	5th century BC
Mirror with “light penetration surface”	11th century BC
Mold board	2nd century BC
Mountings, vertical and horizontal	1st century AD
Mouth-organs	9th century BC
Moxibustion	3rd century BC
Multiple-spindle silk-twisting frame	AD 1313
Negative numbers, operations using	1st century AD
Noodles (filamentous) including bread	AD 100
Nova, recorded observation of	13th century BC
Numerical equations of higher order, solution of	13th century AD
Oil lamps, economic	9th century AD
Paktong (cupronickel)	AD 230
Paper (invention of)	300 BC
Paper, money	9th century AD
Paper, toilet	AD 589
Paper, wall	16th century AD
Paper, wrapping	2nd century BC
Parachute principle	8th century AD
“Pascal” triangle of binomial coefficients	AD 1100
Pasteurization of wine	AD 1117
Pearl fishing conservancy	2nd century AD
Pearls in oysters, artificial induction of	AD 1086
“Pi,” accurate estimation of	3rd century AD
Piece molding for casting bronze	2nd millennium BC
Place-value number system	13th century BC
Placenta used as source of estrogen	AD 725
Planispheres	AD 940
Plant protection, biological	AD 304
Planting in rows	3rd century BC
Playing cards	AD 969
Polar-equatorial coordinates	1st century BC
Polar-equatorial mounting of astronomical instruments	AD 1270
Porcelain	3rd century BC
Potassium, flame-test used in identifying	3rd century AD
Pound-lock canal gates	AD 984
Preservation of corpses	166 BC
Printing, bronze type	AD 1403
Printing, moveable earthenware type on paper	11th century AD
Printing, multicolor	12th century AD
Printing, with woodblocks	7th century AD
Propeller oar, self-feathering	AD 100
Prospecting, biogeochemical	6th century AD
Prospecting, geological	4th century BC
Qin and se zither
Recording of sun halves, parhelic specters, and Lowitz arcs	AD 635
Reel on fishing rod	3rd century AD
Refraction	4th century BC
Rocket arrow	13th century AD
Rocket arrow launchers	AD 1367
Rocket arrows, winged	AD 1360
Rockets, two-stage	AD 1360
Roller-harrows	AD 880
Rotary ballista	AD 240
Rotary fan	1st century BC
Sailing carriage	16th century AD
Sails, mat and batten	1st century AD
Salvage, underwater	AD 1064
Seawalls	AD 80
Seed, pretreatment of	1st century BC
Seed drill, multiple-tube	AD 155
“Seedling horse”	11th century AD
Seismograph	AD 132
Ships, construction principle of	1st century BC
Ships, paddle-wheel	5th century AD
Silk, earliest spinning of	2850 BC
Silk, reeling machine	AD 1090
Silk warp doubling and throwing frame	10th century AD
Sluices	3rd century BC
Sluices, riffles added to	11th century AD
Smallpox, inoculation against	10th century AD
Smokescreens	AD 178
Snow crystals, six-sided symmetry of	135 BC
Soil science (ecology)	5th century BC
South-pointing carriage	AD 120
Soybean, fermented	200 BC
Sprouts, for medicinal and nutritional purposes	2nd century BC
Spindle wheel	5th century BC
Spindle wheel, multiple spindle	11th century AD
Spindle wheel, treadle-operated	1st century AD
Spooling frame	AD 1313
Square pallet chain pump	AD 186
Stalactites and stalagmites, records of	4th century BC
Stars, proper motion of	AD 725
Steamers, pottery	5th millennium BC
Steel production, confusion method of	6th century AD
Sterilization by steaming	AD 980
Steroids, urinary	AD 1025
Still, Chinese-type	7th century AD
Stirrup	AD 300
Stringed instruments	9th century BC
Tea, as drink	2nd century BC
Thyroid treatment	1st century BC
Tian yuan algebraic notation	AD 1248
Tilt-hammer, water-powered spoon	AD 1145
Toothbrush	9th century AD
Trebuchet (simple)	4th century BC
Trip hammers	2nd century BC
Trip hammers, water-powered	AD 20
Vinegar	2nd century BC
Watermills, geared	3rd century AD
Waterwheel, horizontal	AD 31
Weather vane	120 BC
Wet copper method	11th century AD
Wheelbarrow, centrally mounted	30 BC
Wheelbarrow, with sails	6th century AD
Windlass, well	120 BC
Windows, revolving	5th century BC
Winnowing machine	1st century BC
Wu tong black palatinated copper	15th century AD
Zoetrope	AD 180

Simon Winchester writes a phenomenal look at Joseph Needham as a man with multifaceted brilliance in science, math, history, and the list goes on. He must have had a photographic or near-photographic memory to retain and organize the massive amounts of information that passed through his ear and eye portals. To read more, check out Winchester's book The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom. The above list of inventions and discoveries is taken from Winchester's first appendix.