Since Dr. Joseph Needham decided in 1938 to write a systematic. objective and authoritative history of science in China, the Cambridge University Press has published no less than seven large volumes of his Science and Civilisation in China comprising within them some fifteen books. Having devoted his life to cultivating this project over more than half a century, Needham is still applying his astonishing perseverance to the process of writing his long-awaited conclusion.
從一九三八年李約瑟立意「寫作一部有關中國科學，思想與技術的系統、客觀、權威的史書」以來，劍橋大學出版的「中國之科學與文明」至今已發行七大卷十五分冊；而為此執著一生，耕耘半世紀以上的主要撰述者李約瑟博士，則仍以其驚人的毅力繼續撰寫眾所期待的結論。