Galileo Goes to China

Why would a powerful emperor of a vast empire devote his precious time to geometry, astronomy, and musical harmonics? This lecture explores the extraordinary intellectual project of the Kangxi Emperor, who—at the height of Qing imperial power—embraced Western astronomy brought to him by the Jesuits. At the same time that the Church was condemning Galileo in Europe, they were spreading science to China. ​The Chinese emperor​, it turned out, had no intentions to convert to Christianity​. His aim was to consolidate his rule through the mastery of measurement.

Zoom link
Meeting ID: 837 2155 6051
Passcode: 793760

This event is hosted by the Early Modern Science core. All interested faculty, students, and alumni are invited to join.
This lecture will be recorded. Please contact Ewa Atanassow ([email protected]) if you are interested and cannot attend.

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Andrew Hui teaches at Yale-NUS College and is the author of three books, most recently The Study: The Inner Life of Renaissance Libraries (2025) He was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin in the 2023-24 academic year, working on a new book on the Jesuits in China and the formation of the early modern global age.

For more information, e-mail [email protected].

Time: 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm CET/GMT+1

Location: Online (Zoom)

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