"The Origins of Scientific Civilization": The World Was a "Single Laboratory"! An Epic of Global History of Science Told on a Grand Scale

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Published by Toyo Keizai Inc. in December 2023, "The Origins of Scientific Civilization: A Global History of Science That Created the Modern World" is, I believe, a groundbreaking book that opens up new horizons in the academic field of the history of science.

The author, James Poskett, is an up-and-coming researcher who teaches the history of science and technology at the University of Warwick, and this book is truly his life's work, into which he has poured his many years of research without reservation.

A bold challenge that overturns the common sense of the history of science

The history of science that we learned in school and that has been generally told has centered on the stories of great European scientists such as Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, and Darwin. The story that their achievements accumulated to cause a "Scientific Revolution" in Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries, leading to the birth of modern science, is all too famous.

However, Poskett flatly objects that this "Eurocentric view of the history of science" is a kind of "myth" that distorts historical facts. With passionate writing, he argues that the development of modern science was achieved not only by Europe but by the tireless efforts of scientists around the world—in America, Asia, Africa, and beyond—and through the cross-border exchange of knowledge.

Forgotten scientists and their unknown contributions

One of the charms of this book is that it sheds light on the achievements of scientists around the world who have not been properly evaluated until now, and reveals, based on abundant historical materials and detailed analysis, how their contributions were indispensable to the development of modern science.

For example, scientists in the Islamic world made remarkable progress in fields such as mathematics, astronomy, and medicine, which had a profound influence on the European Renaissance. Also, Chinese scientists made important inventions such as gunpowder, the compass, and printing technology, which greatly changed the course of world history. Furthermore, Native American knowledge contributed to the development of European botany and pharmacology and was deeply involved in the discovery and colonization of the New World.

The world was a "single laboratory"

This book not only reveals the existence of "forgotten giants" in the history of science, but also depicts the history of the grand transmission and exchange of knowledge across continents with a sense of realism as if reading an adventure novel. The way various knowledge and technologies traveled around the world through the Silk Road and the Age of Discovery, influencing each other and developing, is truly a masterpiece.

For example, the concept of numbers born in India was transmitted to the Arab world and then spread to Europe, which dramatically accelerated the development of mathematics. Also, the compass invented in China dramatically improved European navigation technology and became the driving force that opened up the Age of Discovery.

Poskett expresses this history of the transmission and exchange of knowledge with the phrase, "The world was a 'single laboratory'." Scientists around the world absorbed each other's achievements and sometimes competed with each other, expanding the frontiers of human knowledge as a whole.

The future of science opened up by a global perspective

By unraveling the history of science, Poskett also provides important suggestions for the state of science in modern society. In an age shaken between globalization and nationalism, he emphasizes that the future of science depends on international cooperation and the sharing of knowledge. Science is the common heritage of humanity and should not be monopolized by any specific country or region.

An emotional epic that sings of human wisdom and hope for the future

"The Origins of Scientific Civilization" is a work of grand scale that presents the origins of modern civilization and prospects for the future through the prism of the history of science. It is a book that I would like everyone to pick up, not only those who like history, but also those who are interested in science and those who are concerned about the importance of knowledge in a global society.

Poskett's writing style is sometimes humorous and sometimes poetic, never letting the reader get bored.

This book will surely be deeply engraved in our hearts not just as a mere commentary on the history of science, but as an emotional epic woven by human wisdom and the spirit of inquiry.