David Gilbert Christian (born June 30, 1946), a historian and scholar of

Russian history The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs. The traditional start-date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' state in the north in 862, ruled by Varangians. Staraya Ladoga and Novgorod became ...

, has become notable for teaching and promoting the emerging discipline of

Big History Big History is an academic discipline which examines history from the Big Bang to the present. Big History resists specialization, and searches for universal patterns or trends. It examines long time frames using a multidisciplinary approac ...

. In 1989 he began teaching the first course on the topic, examining history from the Big Bang to the present using a multidisciplinary approach with the assistance of scholars in diverse specializations from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Big History frames

human history Human history, also called world history, is the narrative of humanity's past. It is understood and studied through anthropology, archaeology, genetics, and linguistics. Since the invention of writing, human history has been studied throug ...

in terms of cosmic, geological, and biological history. Christian is credited with coining the term ''Big History'' and he serves as president of the ''International Big History Association''. Christian's best-selling ''

Teaching Company The Teaching Company, doing business as Wondrium, is a media production company that produces educational, video and audio content in the form of courses, documentaries, series under two content brands - Wondrium and The Great Courses. The compa ...

'' course entitled ''Big History'' caught the attention of philanthropist

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

, who is funding Christian's efforts to develop a program to bring the course to secondary-school students worldwide.

Early life

Christian was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, to British and American parents. He grew up in Nigeria and England. He completed his pre-university education at

Atlantic College Atlantic College (formally the United World College of the Atlantic; alternatively styled UWC Atlantic College, UWCAC, or UWCA) is an independent boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales. Founded in 1962, it was the first of ...

, an international sixth form in Wales. He then earned his B.A. from Oxford University, an M.A. in Russian history from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

, and a Ph.D. in nineteenth century Russian history from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

in 1974.

Academic career

Christian's early research interests focused on the

history of Russia The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs. The traditional start-date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' people, Rus' state in the north in 862, ruled by Varangians. Staraya Ladoga and Veli ...

and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, with particular emphases on the

Russian peasantry The term '' serf'', in the sense of an unfree peasant of tsarist Russia, is the usual English-language translation of () which meant an unfree person who, unlike a slave, historically could be sold only with the land to which they were "atta ...

, including their diet and the role of

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuriti ...

in their lives. He published several books on these subjects. In 1984, he co-wrote, along with R. E. F. Smith, a history about the Russian peasantry entitled ''Bread and Salt'' that showed, among other things, how such foods along with dairy products were used as seasonings. He taught at Macquarie University in Sydney from 1975 to 2000. During the 1980s, he read widely and began a program to describe human history in the context of very large time scales from cosmology and astronomy, covering the almost fourteen billion years since the Big Bang. He began teaching his first course, what he described as

, in 1989. It was a novel approach that emphasizes summary findings from

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

, and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

to show what happened before

homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

became prevalent on the Earth. Generally, humans are not mentioned much in the course until halfway through the 15-week semester. He wrote the book ''Maps of Time'' that mirrored the course content. The course was chosen by '' The Teaching Company's Great Courses'' and Christian recorded 48 half-hour lectures. In 1998 he published ''A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia'' in which he studied the steppe and forest peoples of Inner Eurasia as opposed to 'outer Eurasia' – the crescent of agrarian civilizations from Europe, the Middle East, and India to China. Christian transferred to

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

in California in 2001. He taught students in subjects such as world history and the history of the environment, as well as the history of Inner Eurasia. In 2005, his 600-page book ''Maps of Time'' was published, which a reviewer described as a "remarkable work of synthesis and scholarship." Christian has additional teaching affiliations with the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...

and

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational inst ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

. In 2009, he transferred back to Macquarie University. In 2010, Christian predicted that historical scholarship would have less emphasis on document-based research and more on empirical research, and he wrote: Philanthropist

presented David Christian at the

TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...

2011 Conference in Long Beach, California. At that time, Christian announced his

Big History Project OER Project is a non-profit open educational resources provider co-founded in 2011 by Bill Gates and David Christian. Originally known as Big History Project (BHP), the titular course was intended to to enable the global teaching of the subject ...

initiative to teach the subject to secondary school students in Australia and the United States. Currently, he is serving as president of the International Big History Association.

Awards and honors

* 2005:

World History Association Book Prize The World History Association Bentley Book Prize is an annual award given by the World History Association. It was first awarded in 1999 as the World History Association Book Prize; the name was changed in 2012 to honor Jerry H. Bentley.

, ''Maps of Time'' * 2014: Distinguished Professor, Macquarie University

Publications

* ''Bread and Salt: A Social and Economic History of Food and Drink in Russia'', 1984, co-written with R. E. F. Smith * ''A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, volume 1, 1998 * ''Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History'', 2005, University of California Press * ''Big History: Between Nothing and Everything'', first edition, 2014, McGraw-Hill Education (co-written by Cynthia Stokes Brown and Craig Benjamin) * ''Origin Story: A Big History of Everything'', 2018, Little, Brown and Company, *"Future Stories: What's Next", 2022 Little, Brown Spark.

References

External links