He Bian

He Bian is an Assistant Professor in History and East Asian Studies at Princeton University, specializing in the transformation of natural philosophy and cosmology in medieval Chinese thought toward empirical knowledge cultures post-17th century. She is currently a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Department III, collaborating on digital datasets for natural products (materia medica) via the Local Gazetteer Project platform.

Her research focuses on early modern Chinese pharmacy, material culture, and the popularization of science before missionary influence. She is completing her first book, Know Your Remedies: Pharmacy and Early Modern Culture in China, 1500–1800, under contract with Princeton University Press, while planning a second project on Qing dynasty recipe collections.

At MPIWG, she engages with interdisciplinary teams, including Dagmar Schäfer and Shih-pei Chen, and contributes to digital humanities initiatives. Her academic work intersects with the study of rationality, practical knowledge, and transnational exchanges in traditional medicine.