Lu Gwei-djen

Lu Gwei-djen (Chinese: 魯桂珍; pinyin: Lǔ Guìzhēn; Wade–Giles: Lu Kui-chen; July 22, 1904 － Nov 28, 1991) was a Chinese biochemist and historian. She was an expert on the history of science and technology in China and a researcher of nutriology.She was an important researcher and co-author of the project Science and Civilisation in China led by Joseph Needham.

In 1937, aged 33, she undertook postgraduate study at The University of Cambridge under Dorothy M. Needham and moved to the U.S. during World War II. In 1945 she joined the Needhams in Chongqing as a consultant for nutrition at the Co-operation office and in 1948 moved to Paris to work at UNESCO at the secretariat for natural sciences.

Among the work on which she is credited as co-author are:

• Celestial Lancets: A History and Rationale of Acupuncture and Moxa (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980)
• Science and Civilisation in China Volume 4 Physics and Physical Technology Part III: Civil Engineering and Nautics (Cambridge: University Press, 1971 ISBN 0521070600)
• Vol. 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology: Pt. V: Spagyrical discovery and invention : physiological alchemy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983).
• The Hall of Heavenly Records: Korean Astronomical Instruments and Clocks, 1380-1780, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). ISBN 978-0521616980
• Gwei-Djen Lu, 1951. A contribution to the history of Chinese dietetics, ASIN: B0007KGH96

The Lu Gwei-Djen Prize for the History of Science awarded by Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge is named in her honour as is the Lu Gwei Djen Research Fellowship awarded by Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge - a position currently held by biophysicist Dr Eileen Nugent.

The daughter of a pharmacist, she was well known as Needham's long-time assistant, co-author, Chinese language teacher and his second wife. Both Lu Gwei-Djen and Needham's first wife, Dorothy, were founding fellows of Lucy Cavendish College, a college in the University of Cambridge founded in 1965 where women over age 21 can study.

• Winchester, Simon (2008). The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-088459-8. Also published as Gun, Book and Compass.
• Wang, Guozhong (1999). 魯桂珍與李約瑟 Lu Guizhen yu Li Yuese (Lu Guizhen and Joseph Needham). Guiyang: Guizhou People's Press. pp. 1–29, 231–236. ISBN 7-221-04546-1.