Christianson, Gale E. 1942–

PERSONAL: Born June 29, 1942, in Charles City, IA; son of John Edward and Donna Jean Christianson: married Terry Diane (divorced, April, 1974); married Brenda Pell (a teacher), November 26, 1974. Education: University of Iowa, B.A., 1964; University of Northern Iowa, M.A., 1966; Carnegie-Mellon University, D.Arts, 1971.

ADDRESSES: Home—334 S. 22nd St., Terre Haute, IN 47803-2112. Agent—Gerard McCauley, P.O. Box AE, Katonah, NY 10536.

CAREER: North Iowa Area Community College, Mason City, IA, instructor in history, 1966–69; Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN, instructor, 1969–71, assistant professor, 1971–75, associate professor, 1975–80, professor of history, beginning 1980, currently professor emeritus. Adjunct professor at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, 1977.

MEMBER: American Association of University Professors, American History Association, American Committee of Irish Scholars, Phi Alpha Theta.

AWARDS, HONORS: Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation fellowship, 1971; research grants from Indiana State University, 1972, 1973; American Philosophical Society grant, 1973.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

The Wild Abyss: The Story of the Men Who Made Modern Astronomy, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1978.

In the Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton and His Time, Free Press (New York, NY), 1984.

Fox at the Wood's Edge: A Biography of Loren Eiseley, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1990.

Writing Lives Is the Devil: Essays of a Biographer at Work, Archon Books (Hamden, CT), 1993.

Edwin Hubble: Mariner of the Nebulae, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 1995.

Isaac Newton and the Scientific Revolution (for young adults), Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1996.

Greenhouse: The 200-Year Story of Global Warming, Walker (New York, NY), 1999.

The Last Posse: A Jailbreak, a Manhunt, and the End of Hang-'em High Justice, Lyons Press (Guilford, CT), 2001.

Isaac Newton, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to history, science, education, and science fiction journals, and to Commonweal.

SIDELIGHTS: Gale E. Christianson has written numerous biographies, including those of scientific notables Sir Isaac Newton and astronomer Edwin Hubble. One of his first significant works was on Loren Eiseley, an anthropologist and philosopher whose essays were an imaginative blend of science and the humanities. Pat Shipman, an anthropologist and reviewer for the New York Times Book Review, called Eiseley "one of the most gifted essayists of all time." Eiseley's childhood was a strange and tortured one; his father left him alone for long periods with his deaf and mentally ill mother, and his isolated upbringing left him unable to deal with the rest of the world. Christianson's Fox at the Wood's Edge: A Biography of Loren Eiseley is taken from the essayist's own description of himself; Shipman wrote that Eiseley considered himself "a natural fugitive … unable to emerge into the sunlight, too tragically crippled by his childhood to communicate with real people in ordinary circumstances. He could speak with resonant directness only to an abstract, remote audience." Shipman rated Fox at the Wood's Edge a "competent, literate, well-documented chronicle," and Genevieve Stuttaford similarly expressed in her Publishers Weekly review that it is a "revealing, gracefully written biography."

With Edwin Hubble: Mariner of the Nebulae, Christian-son provides the first full-length biography of the astronomer many consider to be as important as Copernicus or Galileo, because of his discovery that the universe is far more expansive than anyone before him had previously imagined, and his further discovery that the universe is constantly expanding. The biography presents Hubble as "a person much like you and I, with an insatiable love for the cosmos and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge," asserted John Shibley in Astronomy. "Once you've read [it], you'll understand why a subsequent generation of Hubble's contemporaries felt compelled to name a great, orbiting observatory after him." New York Times Book Review contributor Dick Teresi found Edwin Hubble to be "very readable" but warned: "To say he takes a warts-and-all approach is understatement. Hubble was one big wart." Teresi revealed that Hubble was once approached by a sports promoter who wanted him to box Jack Johnson, then the heavyweight champion of the world, and noted: "You wish Hubble would have accepted the bout. For surely Johnson … would have pounded the vain, supercilious, obnoxious, pretentious, petty, egocentric, shallow, phony, insensitive … Hubble into a quivering mass of protoplasm." Yet he assured readers that "by Mr. Christianson's account, Hubble was personally transformed by stargazing, and his descriptions of the astronomer at the telescope … are wonderful."

In The Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton and His Times offers few new insights into the life of Sir Isaac Newton, but "does present a thoughtful, balanced picture of a genius tortured by self-doubt," according to Michael S. Mahoney in Science. "The resulting tension, as Christianson convincingly illustrates through various episodes and encounters, shaped a man who oscillated between rank arrogance and painful shyness, who craved intimacy while thrusting others from him, who attacked the work of others while resenting (or, rather, fearing) their criticism of his…. Christianson is at his best in conveying the details and circumstances of Newton's life. His many vignettes of the people and events surrounding Newton are both interesting and entertaining, and they offer the reader a revealing sense of time and place."

The author continued his exploration of Newton and his world in his 1997 book for young adult readers, Isaac Newton and the Scientific Revolution and the more recent Isaac Newton. The former focuses on the political, social, and religious climate in seventeenth-century England and the way these factors shaped Newton's work. "The impartial text presents Newton as a genius with an insatiable curiosity who grappled with critics and opponents with startling ferocity," declared Daniel J. Brabander in Horn Book. Hazel Rochman commended the author's realistic approach in her Booklist review, writing: "Far from reverential, Christianson shows us a genius who could be treacherous, revengeful, and arrogant." A Publishers Weekly critic called Isaac Newton "more or less identical" to the young adult title, adding that it offers "little that isn't familiar" to those who have read about Newton before. A Kirkus Reviews contributor, however, found the story engaging, especially with regard to Christianson's portrayal of Newston's "Nixonian tricks" against his rivals. "Though light on equations and proofs," wrote the reviewer, "Christianson offers a revealing portrait of a man who helped revolutionize science."

Christianson takes on an idea rather than a person in his 1999 offering, Greenhouse: The 200-Year Story of Global Warming. A Publishers Weekly reviewer called this book "an unorthodox blend of history, science and ecopolitics" that "makes a cogent case that global warming is real." The "gracefully written book" shows the numerous scientists who, over the years, have discovered facts showing that the planet is heating up, and discusses the different ways these discoveries have been interpreted. Witold Rybczynski, writing in the New York Times Book Review, praised the "epic sweep" of Christianson's study and added: "A fascinating aspect of [his] account is the way that the evidence of global arming is differently understood at different times. It's a reminder that while science may be objective, the interpretation of science is not…. This is an oddly stimulating book." Booklist commentator Gilbert Taylor concluded that Greenhouse is "a levelheaded, multileveled historical excursion, providing an advantage in understanding the controversial global-warming threat."

The Last Posse: A Jailbreak, a Manhunt, and the End of Hang-'em High Justice is also a departure for the author. Set in 1912, it is a violent story of the closing days of the Wild West. Set in Nebraska, the poor treatment of prisoners by local law enforcement backfires when a prisoner stabs a deputy warden to death and several inmates flee their jail. A posse is organized, but when the lawmen track down the escapees a gun battle ensues that kills several innocent people, including a pregnant woman. Christianson provides a "detailed but readable and absorbing narrative" for this ignominious chapter in American history, according to Edwin B. Burgess in the Library Journal, while Booklist critic Gilbert Taylor similarly praised the "powerful, pulsing narrative."

Christianson once told CA: "My primary interest as a historian is the early modern period of European history, 1500–1750. More specifically, I am interested in the history of discovery, particularly in the science of astronomy. During the winter of 1978 I spent my sabbatical at Cambridge University working on the papers of Isaac Newton. I teach a broad range of courses at Indiana State University, but my favorite is a course of my own, 'Science and Society.' Drawing students from a broad range of academic disciplines, the course traces the development of modern science from the Egyptians and Greeks through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and modern period."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Astronomy, October, 1995, John Shibley, review of Edwin Hubble: Mariner of the Nebulae, p. 92.

Booklist, December 1, 1996, Hazel Rochman, review of Isaac Newton and the Scientific Revolution, p. 656; April 15, 1999, Gilbert Taylor, review of Greenhouse: The 200-Year Story of Global Warming, p. 1489; September 15, 2001, Gilbert Taylor, review of The Last Posse: A Jailbreak, a Manhunt, and the End of Hang-'Em-High Justice, p. 167.

Harper's Magazine, December, 2005, John Leonard, "New Books," review of Isaac Newton, p. 85.

Horn Book, May-June, 1997, Daniel J. Brabander, review of Isaac Newton and the Scientific Revolution, p. 338.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2005, review of Isaac Newton, p. 952.

Library Journal, October 1, 2001, Edwin B. Burgess, review of The Last Posse, p. 119.

New York Times Book Review, August 19, 1990, Pat Shipman, review of Fox at the Wood's Edge: A Biography of Loren Eiseley, p. 11; September 3, 1995, Dick Teresi, review of Edwin Hubble, p. 1; July 11, 1999, Witold Rybczynski, review of Greenhouse, p. 19.

Publishers Weekly, June 29, 1990, Genevieve Stut-taford, review of Fox at the Wood's Edge, p. 92; April 26, 1999, review of Greenhouse, p. 71; September 12, 2005, review of Isaac Newton, p. 58.

Science, October 5, 1984, Michael S. Mahoney, review of In the Presence of the Creator: Isaac Newton and His Time, p. 39; August 25, 1995, p. 1122.