ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Scientific and Technological Mobilization of Chinese Scientists During World War II

• In Event: The Evolution of Science and Technology in China: Tradition and Modernity in a Global Perspective 2

English Abstract

During World War II, as a country with underdeveloped science and technology, China’s government wartime mobilization documents did not include direct instructions on scientific and technological mobilization. Nevertheless, Chinese scientists at that time organized spontaneously. Through cooperation with government departments, relevant factories and mines, they took science as a weapon in extremely harsh conditions to support the sacred War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and promote the development of science in China. This kind of mobilization is a typical example of wartime scientific and technological mobilization in less developed countries, and also an important supplement to the previous focus on top-down scientific and technological mobilization.

Authors

• Gong Wang, Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

• Yang Jian, Tsinghua University