| Authorised form of name | Needham; Joseph (1900 - 1995) |
| Other forms of name | Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery |
| Dates | 1900 - 1995 |
| Place of birth | London, England |
| Date of birth | 09/12/1900 |
| Date of death | 25/03/1995 |
| Research field | Embryology |
| Activity | Education:
Oundle School (1914-1918); Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (1918-1922)
Career:
Post-graduate research, Biochemistry Department, Cambridge, under Frederick Gowland Hopkins (FRS 1905); Benn Levy Student (1922-1924); Fellow, Gonville and Caius College (1924); University Demonstrator in Biochemistry (1928); Sir William Dunn Reader in Biochemistry (1933-1966); Head, British Scientific Mission to China (1942); Scientific Counsellor, British Embassy, Chungking, China (1944-1945); established the Sino-British Science Co-operation Office and was its Director; first Director, UNESCO Section of Natural Sciences (1946-1948); wrote a history of China's contribution to science and civilisation; involved in establishing History of Science as an academic discipline at Cambridge; Master, Gonville and Caius College (1966-1976); member of International Union of History and Philosophy of Science (President 1972-1975); wrote on philosophy, religion and politics; member of the Labour Party. Though a biologist, he was much interested in political and philosphical questions. Sympathetic to Communism in the 1930's. Became an authority on the civilisation of China and on the history of science.
Honours:
CH (1992); UNESCO Albert Einstein Silver Medal (1994)
Memberships:
FBA (1971) |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 20/03/1941 |
| Age at election | 40 |
| Royal Society activity | Lectures:
Wilkins 1958 |
| Relationships | Son of Joseph Needham, doctor specialising in anaesthetics, and his wife Alicia Adelaide Montgomery, pianist and song composer.
Married: 1) (1924) Dorothy Mary Moyle (FRS 1948); 2) (1989) Lu Gwei-Djen (died 1991) |
| Sources | AssocMaterial:
NCUACS 81/2/95; NCUACS 54/3/95; NCUACS 55/4/95. Papers deposited in the Imperial War Museum, London
Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 2000 vol 46 pp 365-376, plate, by J B Gurdon and Barbara Rodbard
References:
Mikulas Teich, review of Hakim Mohammed Said, ed, Essays on Science: Felicitation Volume in Honour of Dr Joseph Needham in NR 1992 vol 46 pp 329-330
A Rupert Hall, 'A Window on the East', essay review in NR 1990 vol 44 pp 101-110 |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/61550127 |
| Royal Society code | NA8082 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| EC/1941/11 | Needham, Joseph: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| HWT/39/44 | Great Britain-China Committee (later Great Britain-China Centre) | January 1974 |
| IM/GA/WS/3422 | Needham, Joseph | nd |
| IM/003242 | Needham, Joseph | circa 1979 |
| IM/003241 | Needham, Joseph | 1988 |
| RR/43/136 | Referee's report by Marcus Seymour Pembrey, on a paper 'On the true metabolic rate of the chick embryo and the respiration of its membranes' by Joseph Needham | November 1931 |
| RR/50/74 | Referee's report by Arthur Edwin Boycott, on a paper 'Physico-chemical experiments on the amphibian organizer' by Joseph Needham, Conrad Hal Waddington and Dorothy Mary Moyle Needham | November 1933 |
| RR/62/68 | Referee's report by Otto Rosenheim, on a paper 'Studies on the nature of the amphibian organization centre III—The activation of the evocator' by Conrad Hal Waddington, Joseph Needham and Jean Brachet | [January 1936] |
| RR/65/200 | Referee's report by Otto Fritz Meyerhof, on a paper 'Morphogenesis and metabolism: studies with the cartesian diver ultramicromanometer II. Effect of dinitro-o-cresol on the anaerobic glycolysis of the regions of the amphibian gastrula' by Joseph Needham and E J Boell | 1939 |
| RR/65/199 | Referee's report by Harold Munro Fox, on a paper 'Morphogenesis and metabolism: studies with the cartesian diver ultramicromanometer I. Anaerobic glycolysis of the regions of the amphibian gastrula' by Joseph Needham, E J Boell and Veronica Rogers | December 1938 |
| RR/65/202 | Referee's report by Otto Fritz Meyerhof, on a paper 'Morphogenesis and metabolism: studies with the cartesian diver ultramicromanometer III. Respiratory rate of the regions of the amphibian gastrula' by Joseph Needham and E J Boell | 1939 |
| RR/67/306 | Referee's report by Harold Munro Fox, on a paper 'Morphogenesis and metabolism: studies with the Cartesian diver ultramicro-manometer V. Aerobic glycolysis measurements on the regions of the amphibian gastrula' by Joseph Needham, Veronica Rogers and Shih-chang Shen | June 1939 |
| GLB/65/110/91 | Copy of a letter from D Whitteridge to Joseph Needham, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge | 11 June 1954 |
| RR/58/9 | Referee's report by Arthur Harden, on a paper 'Studies on the nature of the amphibian organization centre - VI-Inductions by the evocator-glycogen complex in intact embryos and in ectoderm removed from the individuation-field' by Norman G Heatley, Conrad Hal Waddington and Joseph Needham | December 1936 |
| RR/62/70 | Referee's report by James Peter Hill, on a paper 'Studies on the nature of the amphibian organization centre IV—Further experiments on the chemistry of the evocator' by Conrad Hal Waddingto, Joseph Needham, W W Nowinski, Max Rudolf Lemberg and Arthur Cohen | [February 1936] |
| RR/65/197 | Referee's report by Otto Fritz Meyerhof, on a paper 'Morphogenesis and metabolism: studies with the cartesian diver ultramicromanometer IV. Respiratory quotient of the regions of the amphibian gastrula' by Joseph Needham, E J Boell and Henri Koch | 1938 |
| IM/003240 | Needham, Dorothy Mary (Moyle) and Needham, Joseph | 1976 |
| IM/GA/WS/3424 | Needham, Dorothy Mary (Moyle) and Needham, Joseph | nd |
| NLB/68/726 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John Rose Bradford, KCMG, FRS | 22 October 1925 |
| MDA/C/20/7 | Correspondence on a Messel Research Fund grant to Joseph Needham | 1938-1939 |
| RR/57/42 | Referee's report by James Peter Hill, on a paper 'Studies on the nature of the amphibian organization centre. I—Chemical properties of the evocator' by Conrad Hal Waddington, Joseph Needham, W W Nowinski and R Lemberg | [January 1935] |
| RR/43/137 | Referee's report by Edwin Stephen Goodrich, on a paper 'A comparative study of the phosphagens, with some remarks on the origin of vertebrates' by Dorothy Mary Moyle Needham, Joseph Needham, Ernest Baldwin and John Yudkin | December 1931 |
| RR/46/37 | Referee's report by Marcus Seymour Pembrey, on a paper 'A manometric analysis of the metabolism in avian ontogenesis - II. The effects of fluoride, Iodoacetate, and other reagents on the respiration of blastoderm, embryo, and yolk-sac' by Joseph Needham | [October 1932] |
| RR/46/38 | Referee's report by Marcus Seymour Pembrey, on a paper 'A manometric analysis of the metabolism in avian ontogenesis. I.—The normal respiratory quotient of blastoderm, embryo, and yolk-sac during the first week of development' by Joseph Needham | [October 1932] |
| RR/50/73 | Referee's report by Archibald Vivian Hill, on a paper 'A manometric analysis of the metabolism in avian ontogenesis. III.—The respiratory quotient of the yolk-sac and allantois during the last two weeks of development' by Joseph Needham | May 1933 |
| RR/57/43 | Referee's report by Otto Rosenheim, on a paper 'Studies on the nature of the amphibian organization centre. I—Chemical properties of the evocator' by Conrad Hal Waddington, Joseph Needham, W W Nowinski and R Lemberg | [January 1935] |
| RR/62/67 | Referee's report by James Peter Hill, on a paper 'Studies on the nature of the amphibian organization centre III—The activation of the evocator' by Conrad Hal Waddington, Joseph Needham and Jean Brachet | [February 1936] |
| RR/62/69 | Referee's report by Otto Rosenheim, on a paper 'Studies on the nature of the amphibian organization centre IV—Further experiments on the chemistry of the evocator' by Conrad Hal Waddingto, Joseph Needham, W W Nowinski, Max Rudolf Lemberg and Arthur Cohen | [January 1936] |
| RR/65/198 | Referee's report by Otto Fritz Meyerhof, on a paper 'Morphogenesis and metabolism: studies with the Cartesian diver ultramicro-manometer V. Aerobic glycolysis measurements on the regions of the amphibian gastrula' by Joseph Needham, Veronica Rogers and Shih-chang Shen | 1939 |
| RR/65/201 | Referee's report by Harold Munro Fox, on a paper 'Morphogenesis and metabolism: studies with the cartesian diver ultramicromanometer II. Effect of dinitro-o-cresol on the anaerobic glycolysis of the regions of the amphibian gastrula' by Joseph Needham and E J Boell | December 1939 |
| RR/65/203 | Referee's report by Harold Munro Fox, on a paper 'Morphogenesis and metabolism: studies with the cartesian diver ultramicromanometer III. Respiratory rate of the regions of the amphibian gastrula' by Joseph Needham and E J Boell | December 1938 |
| RR/68/6 | Referee's report by Joseph Needham, on a paper 'The inhibition of growth by chemical compounds' by G M Badger, L A Elson, Alexander Haddow, C L Hewett and A M Robinson | [1941] |
| RR/74/56 | Referee's report by Joseph Needham, on a paper 'Effects of chlracetophenome and di-isopropyl fluorophosphonate on amphibian eggs' by R A Betty | 10 November 1950 |