A History Of Science In Korea

Utilizing rare pictures and offering detailed explanations of the heritage of traditional Korean science from the Bronze Age to the Joseon Dynasty, this book takes a fresh look at the history of Korean science.

Originally this book was published in Korea under the title Were There Sciences in Korean History? in Korean. The author selected two dozen topics from the history of science in Korea, to present a survey of Korean science to the general public. Now this is translated into English for international readers, with slight modifications to the original Korean version. This is author's way of interpreting Korea's proud scientific traditions, as well as his interpretations of why Korea had to be late in the introduction of advanced Western sciences in the nineteenth century and thereafter, hopefully for the better understanding of Korean history for the general readers, as much as professional historians.

It might surprise Western scientists to learn that there were periods in Korean history when the level of scientific achievement was the highest in Asia. This is the proposition that Dr. Sang-woon Jeon sets forth in the first comprehensive and systematic survey of Korean science to appear in any Western language. Dr. Jeon points up Korea's unique contributions to the history of science and technology as well as the country's role as a bridge between Japanese and Chinese science and civilization. Much of his discussion of Korean science focuses on instruments which he describes in great detail in chapters on astronomy, metereology, physics and physical technology, and geography and cartography.Faced with the considerable difficulty of writing a history based on inadequate written records, Dr. Jeon has made use of available artifacts and other materials which have received little attention either in East Asia or the West. He has also summarized historical research in Korean science to the present and compiled an extensive bibliography.

Historians of late premodern Korea have tended to regard it as a hermit kingdom, isolated from its neighbours and the wider world. In fact, as Ro argues in this book, Korean intellectuals were heavily influenced by both Chinese Neo-Confucianism and the European Enlightenment in the late 18th and 19th centuries. In the late Choson period the regime felt threatened by the new, more empirical, approaches to knowledge emerging from both the East and the West. For this reason many Korean intellectuals felt it necessary to work in the shadows and formed secret societies for the study of nature. Because of the secrecy of these societies, much of their work has remained unknown even in Korea until recent years. Ho looks at the work of these intellectuals and analyses the impact their thinking and experimentation had on knowledge production in Korea. A fascinating insight into the largely overlooked story of how globalization affected intellectual life in Korea before the 20th century. This book will be of great interest to students and researchers of Korean history and of Asian intellectual history more broadly.

A History of Science in Society is a concise overview that introduces complex ideas in a non-technical fashion. Andrew Ede and Lesley B. Cormack trace the history of science through its continually changing place in society and explore the link between the pursuit of knowledge and the desire to make that knowledge useful. In this edition, the authors examine the robust intellectual exchange between East and West and provide new discussions of two women in science: Maria Merian and Maria Winkelmann. A chapter on the relationship between science and war has been added as well as a section on climate change. The further readings section has been updated to reflect recent contributions to the field. Other new features include timelines at the end of each chapter, 70 upgraded illustrations, and new maps of Renaissance Europe, Captain James Cook's voyages, the 2nd voyage of the Beagle, and the main war front during World War I.

Utilizing rare pictures and offering detailed explanations of the heritage of traditional Korean science from the Bronze Age to the Joseon Dynasty, this book takes a fresh look at the history of Korean science.