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' people, Rus' state in the north in the year 862, ruled by Varangians. In 882, Prin ...

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

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

. In 1989 he began teaching the first course on the topic, examining history from the

Big Bang The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...

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 or world history is the record of humankind from prehistory to the present. Early modern human, Modern humans evolved in Africa around 300,000 years ago and initially lived as hunter-gatherers. They Early expansions of hominin ...

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

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...

, 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 Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, to British and American parents. He grew up in Nigeria and England. He completed his pre-university education at Atlantic College, 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; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

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

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1974.

Academic career

Christian's early research interests focused on the history of Russia and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, with particular emphases on the Russian peasantry, including their diet and the role of

vodka Vodka ( ; is a clear distilled beverage, distilled alcoholic beverage. Its varieties originated in Poland and Russia. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is ...

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 product Dairy products or milk products are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, goat, nanny goat, and Sheep, ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food around the world such as y ...

s were used as seasonings. He taught at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

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

. 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 and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

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

, and

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

to show what happened before

homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

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 university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

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 and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

and

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's research university in Seoul, South Korea. It was originally founded as Ewha Haktang on May 31, 1886, by missionary Mary F. Scranton. Currently, Ewha Womans University is one of the world's largest f ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

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

* 1999: Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities * 2005: World History Association Book Prize, ''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