茅以升：中国科学社会史的前驱

茅以升（1896—1989）是中国科学社会史的前驱。他在圆周率史研究中，早于“李约瑟难题”经典论述（1944年）1／4多世纪，提出近代中国“学术不振，逐渐沦丧”的问题。他的工程社会史研究探讨了民国时期和建国初期中国工程的特点，提出发展我国工程必须自力更生等重要思想。在晚年，他研究中国古桥史，阐发了中央集权的封建政体、社会经济、桥工匠师以及中华传统文化对中国古代桥梁技术发展的重要作用。

Mao Yisheng: the Usher of the Chinese Social History of Science

Mao Yisheng (1896-1989) is the usher of the Chinese social history of science. During his research on the history ofcircumference ratio he pointed out that the academic endeavors in latter-day China had declined, which is earlier than the famousNeedham Puzzle (1944) by over a quarter of a century. He did research into the characteristics of Chinese engineering in theRepublican period and the early days of new China, and put forward the important thought of self-dependent development ofdomestic engineering. In his later years, he studied the history of ancient Chinese bridges and expounded the important effect ofcentralized feudality, social economy, bridge engineers and traditional Chinese culture on the development of ancient Chinesebridge-building technology.