Professor, Department of the History of Science, Tsinghua University
Research interests:
Sino-Western scientific exchanges
Scientific translation
Material culture studies
Email: suncs@tsinghua.edu.cn
EDUCATION
Ph. D. in History of Science (2002–2005)
Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Master of Philosophy in History and Philosophy of Science (1999–2002)
Peking University
Bachelor of Science in Geography (1993–1997)
Lanzhou University
APPOINTMENTS
Professor (2024–present)
Department of the History of Science, Tsinghua University
Professor (2018–2024)
Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Associate Professor (2010–2018)
Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Assistant Professor (2005–2010)
Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Associate Editor in Chief (2016–2022)
Studies in the History of Natural Sciences
Vice-President (2024–present)
International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences (INHIGEO)
Secretary (2019–2023)
International Society for the History of East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (ISHEASTM)
AWARDS
Member, Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2012–2015.
Zhu Kezhen Junior Award, International Society for the History of East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (ISHEASTM), 2011.
FELLOWSHIPS
Visiting Scholar, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, Peking University, March–June, 2021.
Visiting Scholar, Seoul National University, May–June, 2013.
Andrews W. Mellon Fellowship, Needham Research Institute, Cambridge University, January–July, 2011.
Jeunes Chercheurs en Sciences Humaines et Sociales, REHSEIS, CNRS, Paris, October–December, 2006.
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Scholarship, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, April 2004–March 2005.
PUBLICATIONS
Monographs
Amadeus W. Grabau and China’s Palaeontology, Beijing: Science Press, 2024. (in English and Chinese)
Guannian de jiaozhi: Mingqingzhiji xifang ziran zhexue zai zhongguo de chuanbo (The Intercultural Weaving of Ideas: The Transmission and Transformation of Western Natural Philosophy in Late Ming and Early Qing China), Guangzhou: Guangdong Renmin Publishing House, 2018. (in Chinese)
Keji geming yu faguo xiandaihua (Scientific and Technological Revolutions and the Modernization of France), Jinan: Shandong Education Press, 2020. (in Chinese and in collaboration with Dr. Yao Dazhi)
Journal Articles
“Palaeontologia Sinica: ‘Awakening’ Fossils in China through International Cooperation,” Earth Sciences History, 2024, 43 (2): 256–271.
“Zhoukoudian: the birthplace of palaeoanthropology and the stimulus for Paleolithic archaeology in China,” in Clary, R. M. , Pyle, E. J. and Andrews, W. M. (eds.) 2024. Geology's Significant Sites and their Contributions to Geoheritage, London: The Geological Society Special Publication 543, pp. 343-356.
“A New Analysis of the Early Geological Works of LU Xun and GU Lang: Case Studies on the Sources of An Outline of the Geology of China and The Mineral Records of China,” Geological Review, 2023, 69 (4): 1589–1605. (in Chinese, in collaboration with BAI Yufang)
“George Durand Wilder’s Ornithological Research in China (1894–1943),” The Chinese Journal for the History of Science and Technology, 2023, 44 (1): 73–90. (in Chinese, in collaboration with QIN Shuohan)
“Steaming Flowers for Medicinal Dew: The Dissemination of Western Essential Oil Knowledge and Distillation Technique in China,” Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, 2022, 41 (3): 289–305. (in Chinese)
“Science and Sovereignty: Western Scholars’ Geological Surveys in China from late 19th Century to early 20th Century,” Geological Review, 2021, 67 (6): 1838–1851. (in Chinese)
“Between Commerce and Science: Sohtsu G. King’s Patronage of Science in Republican China,” Science & Culture Review, 2020, 17 (1): 56–72. (in Chinese)
“The Dissemination and Influence of the Three-Region Theory in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century China,” Chinese Annals of History of Science and Technology, 2017, 1 (2): 71–93. (in English)
“The Collection, Classification of Western Scientific Instruments in the Qing Court and the Dissemination of New Knowledge in China: Yiqi zongshuo as a Case Study,” Science & Culture Review, 2017, 14 (6): 55–67. (in Chinese)
“The Father of China’s Paleontology: Amadeus W. Grabau and Department of Geology of Peking University,” Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, 2016, 35 (3): 341–357. (in Chinese)
“The Vicissitudes of the Earth in the Light of Trans- & Regression and Sial-crust Shifting: Amadeus W. Grabau’s Pulsation and Polar Control Theories,” Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, 2015, 34 (4): 470–486. (in Chinese)
“Amadeus W. Grabau and the Peking Society of Natural History,” Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, 2015, 34 (2): 182–200. (in Chinese)
“The Dissemination and Influence of Three Regions Theory in Late Ming and Early Qing China,” Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, 2014, 33 (3): 259–271. (in Chinese)
“State and Science: A Historical Survey of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique,” in Yan Kangnian, Yao Licheng, eds., Historical Researches on Foreign Famous Scientific Institutions, Beijing: Science Press, 2012, pp. 112–125. (in Chinese)
“The Transmission of Crystalline Spheres Theory to Late Ming China and Its Influence,” Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, 2011, 30 (2): 170–187. (in Chinese)
“On the Composition and Circulation of Jie Xuan’s Xuanji yishu,” Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, 2009, 28 (2): 214–226. (in Chinese)
“To Bridge History of Science and History of Technology: A Survey of the XXIII International Congress of History of Science and Technology,” The Chinese Journal for the History of Science and Technology, 2009, 30 (4): 487–492. (in Chinese)
“The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Its Cooperation System,” Science & Culture Review, 2008, 5 (5): 46–59. (in Chinese)
“The Diffusion and Impact of Western Optical Knowledge in Late Ming and Early Qing: A Study of Sun Yunqiu’s Jingshi,” Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, 2007, 26(3): 363–376. (in Chinese; English version will be appeared in A Reader of History of Science in China organized by Max Plank Institute for the History of Science.)
“Kochen Chu: A Pioneer for Sustainable Development Undertakings in China,” Impact of Science on Society, 2003, No. 1, pp. 35–40. (in Chinese)
Translation
Thomas Buehrke: “The Institute in the Attic,” Kexue wenhua pinglun (Science & Culture Review), Vol. 3, No. 1, 2006, pp. 22–31. (In collaboration with Prof. Fang Zaiqing, in Chinese)
PRESENTATIONS
“Scientific Instruments as Ritual Objects: A Case Study of Huangchao liqi tushi,” 16th International Conference on the History of Science in East Asia, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, August 21–25, 2023.
“Zhoukoudian: The Birthplace of Paleoanthropology and Paleolithic Archaeology in China,” 48th International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences (INHIGEO) Symposium, Krakow, Poland, August 1‒4, 2023.
“The Dissemination of Western Essential Oil Knowledge and Distillation Techniques in China,” 26th International Congress of History of Science and Technology, Prague, July 27, 2021. (online meeting)
“Between Industry and Science: Sohtsu G. King’s Patronage of Science in Republican China,” 15th International Conference on the History of Science in East Asia, Jeonju, Korea, Aug. 19–23, 2019.
“The Dissemination of Western Essential Oil Knowledge and Distillation Techniques in Late Ming and Early Qing China,” Transfer of Scientific and Technical Knowledge between Europe and China during the Early Modern Period, Sino-German Center for Research Promotion, Beijing, March 30–April 1, 2019.
“The Revolution of Venus and Mercury around the Sun: Xiong Mingyu, Fang Yizhi and Jie Xuan as Creative Interpreters of the Aristotelian System,” Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Toronto, March 19, 2017.
“Aristotle’s Problems in China: A Case Study on Feilu dahui,” AAS-in-ASIA Conference, Kyoto, June 24, 2016.
“Amadeus W. Grabau’s Pulsation Theory and Polar Control Theory,” 40th INHIGEO Symposium, Geosciences International Conference Center, Beijing, 24–27 June 2015.
“Amadeus Grabau and the Peking Society of Natural History,” Science as Knowledge, Ideal and Practice in 20th Century China, Charles University (Prague), Nov. 14–15, 2014.
“Techniques of Perception: Writings on Western Optical Devices in Ming-Qing China,” Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Philadelphia, March 30, 2014.
“Amadeus W. Grabau and Geological Education in China,” The 24th International Congress of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, Manchester, July 24, 2013.
“Western Scientific Instruments in the Qing Court: A Study on Yiqi zongshuo,” The 3rd Templeton International Workshop (Seoul National University), May 24, 2013.
“Measuring the Chinese Heaven: The Western Crystalline Spheres in Late Ming and Early Qing China,” REHSEIS (Paris), March 15, 2011.
