The Eastern Origins of Western Science:
Insights from George Sarton
In his influential lecture The History of Science and the New Humanism, George Sarton, one of the founding figures of modern science history, emphasized the deep indebtedness of Western civilization to the ancient cultures of the East. Contrary to the often narrow view that modern science arose solely from European ingenuity, Sarton insists that its roots reach far into the soils of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China.
“By 3000 BCE, this early development had reached maturity in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and likely in India and China. These cultures had writing systems, mathematical knowledge, astronomy, and medicine. Civilization began in the East. Ex oriente lux—‘From the East, light.’”
For Sarton, the Eastern world is not merely a backdrop to the Western story—it is its origin and necessary foundation. He acknowledges that while Greek science achieved philosophical and methodological heights, it did so by standing on the shoulders of the older Eastern civilizations.
“Greek science was built upon the knowledge of the East… Egyptian and Mesopotamian science formed the foundations of Greek thought.”
India’s contributions are especially noted through their transmission via the Islamic Golden Age. The Abbasid Caliphate became the critical bridge between East and West, preserving and enriching both Greek and Hindu science, as Sarton explicitly names:
“Islam… created a civilization that preserved and expanded Greek and Hindu science.”
From India, concepts such as zero, the decimal system, and early algebra entered Arabic and then Latin scientific discourse. From China came astronomical observations, mechanical ingenuity, and medical knowledge, which filtered through Central Asia into the Islamic world.
The Islamic scholars, fluent in Arabic and often drawing from Persian, Indian, and even Chinese sources, became the custodians and transmitters of this knowledge:
“This long arc—from East to West—created the intellectual groundwork for the Renaissance and modern science.”
Sarton’s most powerful image comes near the end of his lecture, as he addresses the legacy of modern scientific culture:
“The scientist must not be arrogant or forgetful of his cultural debt to the East. As Sarton puts it, ‘The East was its mother, the West was its father.’”
This metaphor captures a deep truth: modern science is not the product of a single culture, but the outcome of centuries of cross-cultural fertilization, beginning in the East and maturing in the West. For any serious student of history or science, Sarton’s call is clear: we must remember where we come from, if we are to understand where we are going.