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 The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. 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 ...

in Cambridge, England.

Early life

His father, a Welsh physician, specialised in

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. 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. 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, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

he came under the influence of the

pre-Socratics Pre-Socratic philosophy, also known as early Greek philosophy, is ancient Greek philosophy before Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the universe, but the inquiries of the ...

specialist

John Raven John Earle Raven (13 December 1914 – 5 March 1980) was an English classical scholar, notable for his work on pre-Socratic philosophy, and amateur botanist. His wife, Faith, inherited the 35,000 acre Ardtornish Estate in Argyllshire, Scotland ...

. He spent a year in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

(1954–1955) where, apart from learning

modern Greek Modern Greek (, or , ), 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 language sometimes referred to ...

, he also mastered the

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...

Career

A keen interest in

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

informed his reading of ancient Greek philosophy, and his doctoral studies, conducted under the supervision of

Geoffrey Kirk Geoffrey Stephen Kirk, () was a British classicist who served as the 35th Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge. He published widely on pre-Socratic philosophy and the work of the Greek poet Homer, culminating in a six-volu ...

, focused on patterns of polarity and

analogy Analogy is a comparison or correspondence between two things (or two groups of things) because of a third element that they are considered to share. In logic, it is an inference or an argument from one particular to another particular, as oppose ...

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

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or 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 ...

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

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

's Intelligence Corps. He was given the

service number A service number or roll 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 also may be used in civilian organizations. National identificati ...

460084. He was posted to

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

after the

EOKA The Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (EOKA ; ) was a Greek Cypriot nationalist guerrilla organization that fought a campaign for the end of Cyprus#Cyprus under the British Empire, British rule in Cyprus, and for enosis, eventual union with K ...

insurgency. On his return to Cambridge in 1960, a chance conversation with

Edmund Leach Sir Edmund Ronald Leach FRAI FBA (7 November 1910 – 6 January 1989) was a British social anthropologist and academic. He served as provost of King's College, Cambridge from 1966 to 1979. He was also president of the Royal Anthropolo ...

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 Belgian-born French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair o ...

. In 1965, thanks to the support of

Moses Finley Sir Moses Israel Finley (born Finkelstein; 20 May 1912 – 23 June 1986) was an American-born British academic and classical scholar. His prosecution by the United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security during the 1950s resulted in hi ...

, he was appointed to an assistant lectureship. Consideration of how political discourse affected the modes of scientific discourse and demonstration in Ancient Greece was a recurring theme in his methodology. After a visit to lecture in China in 1987, Lloyd turned to the study of

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...

. 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, initia ...

'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, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

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 (post-nominal letters 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 t ...

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 SourceB ...

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 a 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), founded in 1924, is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science. The society has over 3,000 members worldwide. It publishes the quarterly journal ''Isis'' and the yearly ...

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

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) 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, and other ...

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 an international group of awards that recognize and support outstanding contributions to the study of history and other disciplines that shed light on the human past. Nine prizes of $300,000 are awarded each year to outstand ...

on the modern legacy of the ancient world. He is a member of the advisory board of The International Academic Forum. 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 The Learned Society of Wales () is a national academy, learned society and charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the Welsh nation. The Learned ...

(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

Lloyd's Biography Page at the Needham Research Institute, Cambridge

Picture of Geoffrey Lloyd

Interview of Geoffrey Lloyd by Alan Macfarlane 7 June 2005 (video)
* Edward Grant.
1987 Sarton Medal Citation
" ''Isis'', 79(1988): 243–4. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, G. E. R. 1933 births Alumni of King's College, Cambridge British historians Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of King's College, Cambridge British scholars of ancient Greek philosophy Historians of science Knights Bachelor Living people People educated at Charterhouse School Masters of Darwin College, Cambridge Professors of the University of Cambridge Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales