This lecture examines the development of the mathematical sciences in early modern Korea (late Joseon period, seventeenth to nineteenth centuries). It approaches mathematics broadly, encompassing related fields such as astronomy, cartography, and mechanics, and situates their evolution within the context of transregional knowledge exchange in East Asia as well as the sociocultural dynamism internal to Korean society. The talk highlights two key dynamics. First, it explores the interaction between traditional Chinese mathematics and Western mathematical knowledge introduced through Jesuit-mediated exchanges in China. In Korea, Western mathematics was often received through Chinese reinterpretations, blurring the distinction between “Chinese” and “Western” learning and producing distinctive forms of synthesis. Second, the lecture emphasizes the social dimension of mathematical practice by examining the relationship between two groups: the jung’in technical specialists and the yangban literati elite. While jung’in officials—lower-ranking government functionaries, such as accountants and astronomers—maintained and developed computational traditions rooted in Song–Yuan mathematics, literati elites engaged with mathematics for broader philosophical and cosmological purposes. By the eighteenth century, increased interaction between these groups, along with the rise of practical learning and interest in Western science, fostered a more dynamic intellectual environment. Through these perspectives, the lecture shows that the mathematical sciences in Joseon Korea evolved through complex cultural negotiations shaped by both global circulation and local social structures.

About the speaker:

Prof. Jongtae Lim is professor in the Department of Science Studies at Seoul National University, where he teaches the history of East Asian science. He received his PhD from Seoul National University in 2003, with a dissertation on the reception of Jesuit geographical knowledge in early modern China and Korea. His research focuses on scientific exchanges in early modern East Asia. His recent publications include Travel, Statecraft Reform, and Science and Technology in Eighteenth-Century Korea (2021), and “The Tributary Relations between the Chosŏn and Ch’ing Courts to 1800,” in W.J. Peterson (ed.), The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 9, Part II (2016).

Language:

English

Time & Location

Saturday, 11 July 2026, 14:00

-1.2009 großer Hörsaal, UG (Fabeckstr. 23/25)

Online participation is available. Please register via the email address: Hojye.kang [at] fu-berlin.de

About the Eurasian Foundation lecture series:

This lecture series is organized by Dr. Hojye Kang and offered within the seminar “Bridging Histories, Forging Futures: Lessons from 150 Years of German-Korean Dialogue for the Eurasia Community,” supported by the Eurasia Foundation (https://www.eurasia.or.jp/). It is an annual program that brings together international experts on Korea’s traditional era, the colonial period, contemporary South and North Korea, and international relations. Each lecture presents key research alongside accessible insights into methodologies, primary sources, and conceptual frameworks, offering a structured perspective on the Korean Peninsula in its broader Eurasian context. The series is open to students and all interested audiences.