Dr. David Christian is Professor of History at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He earned a B.A. in History from Oxford University, an M.A. in Russian History from The University of Western Ontario, and a D.Phil. in 19th-Century Russian History from Oxford University. He previously taught at San Diego State University. Professor Christian's course on big history stems from an experimental history course he developed in the late 1980s with the help of colleagues in astronomy, geology, biology, anthropology, and prehistory. In addition to Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History (which won the 2005 World History Association Book Prize), Professor Christian is the author of numerous works including This Fleeting World: A Short History of Humanity. Professor Christian is a member of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities. He was one of the editors of the Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History and also participated in the creation of the world history website World History for Us All.