PETER TUCHIN is an evolutionary scientist and an author who wants to understand how human societies evolve, and why we see such a staggering degree of inequality in economic performance and effectiveness of governance among nations. His approach to answering these questions blends theory building with the analysis of data. He is the founder of a new transdisciplinary field of Cliodynamics, which uses the tools of complexity science and cultural evolution to study the dynamics of historical empires and modern nation-states.
Turchin has published two hundred articles, including a dozen in such top journals as Nature, Science, and PNAS. His publications are frequently cited and in 2004 he was desginated as “Highly Cited Researcher” by ISIHighlyCited.com. Turchin has authored five books. The most recent include Secular Cycles (with Sergey Nefedov, Princeton, 2009), and War and Peace and War (Plume, 2005).