Sir Geoffrey Ernest Richard Lloyd (born 25 January 1933), usually cited as G. E. R. Lloyd, is a historian of ancient science and medicine at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He is the senior scholar in residence at the

Needham Research Institute The Needham Research Institute (NRI; zh , t = 李約瑟研究所 ), located on the grounds of Robinson College, in Cambridge, England, is a centre for research into the history of science, technology and medicine in East Asia. The institute is n ...

in Cambridge, England.

Early life

His father, a Welsh physician, specialised in

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

. After a nomadic early education in six different schools, he obtained a scholarship to Charterhouse, where, despite an indifferent academic culture, he excelled in mathematics, and learned Italian from

Wilfrid Noyce Wilfrid ( – 709 or 710) was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Francia, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, ...

. The curriculum was biased to classics, which he was advised, misleadingly in his later view, to pursue. On obtaining another scholarship to

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

he came under the influence of the pre-Socratics specialist John Raven. He spent a year in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

(1954–1955) where, apart from learning

modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...

, he also mastered the

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

Career

A keen interest in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

informed his reading of ancient Greek philosophy, and his doctoral studies, conducted under the supervision of Geoffrey Kirk, focused on patterns of polarity and

analogy Analogy (from Greek ''analogia'', "proportion", from ''ana-'' "upon, according to" lso "against", "anew"+ ''logos'' "ratio" lso "word, speech, reckoning" is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject ...

in Greek thought, a thesis which, revised, was eventually published in 1966. He was called up for

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

in 1958. On 14 March 1959, following training, he was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

's Intelligence Corps. He was given the

service number A service number is an identification code used to identify a person within a large group. Service numbers are most often associated with the military; however, they may be used in civilian organizations as well. National identification numbers may ...

460084. He was posted to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

after the

EOKA The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA; ; el, Εθνική Οργάνωσις Κυπρίων Αγωνιστών, lit=National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) was a Greek Cypriot nationalist paramilitary organisation that fought a cam ...

insurgency. On his return to Cambridge in 1960, a chance conversation with Edmund Leach stimulated him to read deeply in the emerging approach of

structural anthropology Structural anthropology is a school of sociocultural anthropology based on Claude Lévi-Strauss' 1949 idea that immutable deep structures exist in all cultures, and consequently, that all cultural practices have homologous counterparts in other ...

being formulated by

Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss (, ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair of Social Anthr ...

. In 1965, thanks to the support of Moses Finley, he was appointed to an assistant lectureship. A recurring element of his approach was the consideration of how political discourse influenced the forms of scientific discourse and demonstration in Ancient Greece. After a visit to lecture in China in 1987, Lloyd turned to the study of

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning "literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning "literar ...

. This has added a broad comparative scope to his more recent work, which, following in the wake of

Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, i ...

's pioneering studies, analyses how the different political cultures of ancient China and Greece influenced the different forms of scientific discourse in those cultures. In 1989 he was appointed

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

of Darwin College, where he remains as an honorary fellow. Presently he spends a part of each year in his other home in Spain, where much of his writing is now done.

Honours

Lloyd was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # ...

in 1983 and awarded its

Kenyon Medal The Kenyon Medal is awarded every two years by the British Academy 'in recognition of work in the field of classical studies and archaeology'. The medal was endowed by Sir Frederic Kenyon and was first awarded in 1957. List of recipients SourceBr ...

in 2007. He received the

George Sarton Medal The George Sarton Medal is the most prestigious award given by the History of Science Society. It has been awarded annually since 1955. It is awarded to an historian of science from the international community who became distinguished for "a lifet ...

of the

History of Science Society The History of Science Society (HSS) is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science. It was founded in 1924 by George Sarton, David Eugene Smith, and Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the publi ...

in 1987. He was elected to Honorary Foreign Membership of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1995, to the International Academy for the History of Science in 1997, the year in which he was knighted for 'services to the history of thought'. In 2013 he received the

Dan David Prize The Dan David Prize is a major international award that recognizes and supports outstanding contributions to the study of history and other disciplines that shed light on the human past. It awards nine prizes of $300,000 each year to outstanding ...

on the modern legacy of the ancient world. He is a member of the advisory board of

The International Academic Forum The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) is an NGO research organization based in Japan. In 2017, IAFOR established a research centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), a graduate school of Osaka University, Japan. IAF ...

. In 2013 he received th
Dann David Prize
in recognition of his innovative and interdisciplinary research that cuts across traditional boundaries and paradigms. In 2014 he received the International Fyssen Prize for work in Cross-Cultural Cognition. In 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW).

Publications

* 1966. ''Polarity and Analogy: Two Types of Argumentation in Early Greek Thought''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ; reprint Bristol Classical Press, 1922. . * 1968. ''Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of his Thought''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . * 1970. ''Early Greek Science: Thales to Aristotle''. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. . * 1973. ''Greek Science after Aristotle''. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1973. . * 1978. ''Aristotle on Mind and the Senses'' (Cambridge Classical Studies). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . * 1978. with J. Chadwick. ''Hippocratic Writings'' (Penguin Classics). Penguin Books. . * 1979. ''Magic Reason and Experience: Studies in the Origin and Development of Greek Science''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . * 1983. ''Science, Folklore and Ideology''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . * 1987. ''The Revolutions of Wisdom: Studies in the Claims and Practice of Ancient Greek Science'' (Sather Classical Lectures, 52). Berkeley: University of California Press, . * 1990. ''Demystifying Mentalities''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . * 1991. ''Methods and Problems in Greek Science''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, * 1996. ''Adversaries and Authorities: Investigations into ancient Greek and Chinese Science''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . * 1996. ''Aristotelian Explorations''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, . * 2002. ''The Ambitions of Curiosity: Understanding the World in Ancient Greece and China''. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr. . * 2002. with

Nathan Sivin Nathan Sivin (11 May 1931 – 24 June 2022), also known as Xiwen (), was an American sinologist, historian, essayist, educator, and writer. He taught first at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then at the University of Pennsylvania until his r ...

. ''The Way and the Word: Science and Medicine in Early China and Greece''. New Haven: Yale University. Press. . * 2003. ''In the Grip of Disease: Studies in the Greek Imagination''. New York: Oxford University Press, . * 2004. ''Ancient Worlds, Modern Reflections: Philosophical Perspectives on Greek and Chinese Science and Culture''. New York: Oxford University Press, . * 2005. ''The Delusions of Invulnerability: Wisdom and Morality in Ancient Greece, China and Today''. London: Duckworth. . * 2006. ''Principles And Practices in Ancient Greek And Chinese Science'' (Variorum Collected Studies Series). Aldershot: Ashgate. . * 2007. ''Cognitive Variations: Reflections on the Unity and Diversity of the Human Mind''. New York: Oxford University Press . * 2009. ''Disciplines in the Making'', Oxford University Press, pp. viii + 215. . * 2012. ''Being, Humanity and Understanding'', Oxford University Press, pp. 136. . * 2014. ''The Ideals of Inquiry'', Oxford University Press, pp. 163. . * 2015. ''Analogical Investigations: Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Human Reasoning'', Cambridge University Press, pp. 139. . * 2017. ''The Ambivalences of Rationality: Ancient and Modern Cross-Cultural Explorations'', Cambridge University Press, pp. 132. * 2020. ''Intelligence and Intelligibility: Cross-Cultural Studies of Human Cognitive Experience'', Oxford University Press, pp. 176.

References

External links