Zhang Butian at the Needham Research Institute at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, where he was a visiting scholar in 2015.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Zhang Butian has passion for rendering scientific books into Chinese, and he uses this to make knowledge more accessible. Liu Xiangrui reports.

As a translator, Zhang Butian is one of a kind given that most of his translations are related to the history of science, an academic branch that is just finding its feet in China.

For now, extremely few translators are engaged in such work - because it's typically dull, difficult, and not very remunerative.

Even the most outstanding translators in the field are seldom known to the public.

However, a passion to share knowledge has prompted Zhang to dig deep into these usually thick books.

Zhang says that the study of history of science is critical for understanding it as well as the modern world, and he believes through translating the classics of the subject he can help the Chinese people learn more about the West, and in turn understand their own culture.