Joseph Needham can be counted as one of the first of these critics. Yet he was unlike the typical historian of science who tended to assume that science was a product of European civilization and who was not willing to recognize that other cultures might have made contributions, either directly or indirectly.
李約瑟可算此中先驅，但他不像一般科學史家在歐洲文明自覺或不自覺的民族優越感下，極力強調現代科學是西方的專利，不願承認其它文明過去直接或間接的貢獻，甚且刻意貶低其他民族的科學成就。