Epidemics, Broadening, and Redefining Opium & Plague
March 20th, 2024
The Medical Humanities Initiative co-hosted this event with the Global Medieval Studies Program. This event featured papers by Professors Steffen Rimner and Lee…
Meet the Director of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship: Timothy Newfield, PhD
Timothy Newfield, PhD, is a historical epidemiologist, an environmental historian, and Professor in the Departments of History and Biology. As an historian of disease, he studies how humans have manipulated the environment in ways that have been conducive to disease emergencies in interdisciplinary teams which include archaeologists, paleogenomicists, evolutionary biologists and other specialists in the sciences of the past.
This interdisciplinary research has allowed Newfield and the interdisciplinary teams he is part of to expand the ways in which knowledge is produced and used in each field and the nature of the fields themselves. Thus, the sciences of the human past allow them to identify proxies, independent of the written sources, that can provide a less biased account of what happened, about for instance the origins, spread and impact of historical disease events. Interdisciplinary dialogue ensures that data are properly framed and contextualized and that research projects serve a purpose now, and produce data that we need or that can answer the questions that we have.
His papers have appeared in Agricultural History Review, Annales, Argos, Climatic Change, Climate of the Past, Early Medieval Europe, Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration, Geology, History Compass, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Journal of Roman Archaeology, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, Medizinhistorisches Journal, Nature, Nature Ecology and Evolution, Post-Classical Archaeologies, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Royal Society Open Society, Social Science and Medicine, and in edited volumes.
Featured media, scholarship, and events
Professor Timothy Newfield Named Director of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship
December 20th, 2023
Meet our new Director of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship, Professor Timothy Newfield! Dr. Newfield is a historical epidemiologist, environmental historian, and assistant professor in the…
Epidemic Millennium Hosted by Dr. Timothy Newfield
April 21st, 2023
In April 2023, Core Faculty Dr. Timothy Newfield hosted a 22-talk, 2-day meeting that brought together scholars from many disciplines, including History, Archaeology, Anthropology, Paleopathology,…
Medical Humanities and Global Medieval Studies Workshop: Millennium Epidemics
February 21st, 2023
Join us for the Millennium Epidemics Workshop in April…
“The 852/3 CE Mount Churchill Eruption: Examining the Potential Climatic and Societal Impacts and the Timing of the Medieval Climate Anomaly in the North Atlantic Region”
June 29th, 2022
Timothy Newfield and his research team use palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, historical records and climate model simulations to assess the potential broader impact of the 852/3 CE eruption of Mount Churchill, Alaska, was one of the largest first-millennium volcanic events.…
“Has the Black Death’s Impact Been Overstated? New Medieval Data Complicates Understanding”, Georgetown College Covers Timothy Newfield’s Research
February 17th, 2022
Georgetown College covers Timothy Newfield’s research, undertaken with an interdisciplinary team, on the Black Death’s impact.…
“Palaeoecological Data Indicates Land-Use Changes Across Europe Linked to Spatial Heterogeneity in Mortality During the Black Death Pandemic”
February 10th, 2022
Timothy Newfield and his co-authors write about their application of a pioneering new approach, ‘big data palaeoecology’ to evaluate the scale of the Black Death’s mortality on a regional scale across Europe using palynological data.…
“Did the ‘Black Death’ Really Kill Half of Europe? New Research Says No”, The New York Times Covers Timothy Newfield’s Research
February 10th, 2022
The New York Times covers the research Timothy Newfield co-authored and recently published on the uneven impacts of the plague across Europe, causing “a patchwork of destruction”.…
“The Black Death Was not as Widespread or Catastrophic as Long Thought – New Study”, Timothy Newfield, Adam Izdebski and Alessia Masi Write on The Conversation
February 10th, 2022
Timothy Newfield, Adam Izdebski and Alessia Masi compared the Black Death’s demographic impact across the continent, concluding that the pandemic’s toll was not as universal as currently claimed, nor was it always catastrophic.…
“Syndemic Theory, Methods, and Data”
December 14th, 2021
Emily Mendenhall, Timothy Newfield and Alexander Tsai introduce an Special Issue of Social Science & Medicine, focused on Rethinking Syndemics through time, space, and method.…
“Syndemics and the History of Disease: Towards a New Engagement”
October 4th, 2021
Timothy Newfield looks at histories of disease and our understanding of current syndemics to think of epidemics through a syndemic lens.…
Infectious Historians Podcast, Episode #72: Climate Change and the Globalization of Disease in the Early Middle Ages with Tim Newfield
July 29th, 2021
Timothy Newfield talks to Merle Eisenberg and Lee Mordechai about the connected histories of climate change and diseases that become pandemics, focusing on the early medieval and late antique periods.…
Professor Timothy Newfield Speaks at the 53rd Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies Spring Symposium
March 28th, 2021
Timothy Newfield presented his work on “Local Dimming or Global Blackout? Mysterious Clouding and Climate Change in the Sixth Century: Science, Sources, and Reconstructions” at the 53rd Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies Spring Symposium.…
“Towards a Rigorous Understanding of Societal Responses to Climate Change”
March 24th, 2021
The team of researchers that includes Timothy Newfield and Jakob Burnham proposes an interdisciplinary framework for uncovering climate–society interactions that emphasizes the mechanics by which climate change has influenced human history, and the uncertainties of discerning that influence across spatiotemporal scales. …
“Past Pandemics and Climate Variability Across the Mediterranean”
September 19th, 2020
Timothy Newfield and his co-authors explore potential associations between pandemic disease and climate in Mediterranean history. They make sense of the influence that meteorological, climatological and environmental factors had on historical disease outbreaks.…
The Coronavirus Pandemic in Historical Perspective, with Professor Timothy Newfield
September 3rd, 2020
In this event, hosted by Georgetown University Press, Georgetown College, and Georgetown University Library as part of the Books for a Better World series, Timothy Newfield talks about the history of infectious disease in the ancient world.…
Climate History Podcast, Episode 16: “Pandemics and Climate Change: What History Tells Us About Today’s Greatest Challenges” with Timothy Newfield
August 25th, 2020
Timothy Newfield talks with co-hosts Dagomar Degroot and Emma Moesswilde about what led him to the History and Biology departments at Georgetown University, and about his work in the thriving field of historical epidemiology.…
Estudos Medievais Podcast, Mundus Series Episode 1: “Plague and Climate Change” with Timothy Newfield
August 3rd, 2020
Timothy Newfield talks with Isabela Alves Silva about the Justinianic Plague and climate change in the beginning of the Middle Ages.…
“Covering COVID-19? Perhaps Leave the Black Death and Great Influenza Out of It”, Timothy Newfield Writes on the Georgetown Environmental History Blog
May 13th, 2020
In this piece, published on the Georgetown Environmental History blog, Timothy Newfield argues against the trend to compare COVID-19 with other pandemics in history.…
Timothy Newfield’s Opinion Piece: “Nothing Was the Same: Historical Parallels for the Coronavirus Should Be Avoided like the Plague”
April 26th, 2020
Timothy Newfield addresses historical parallels regarding pandemics. He argues that our instinct to look to the past for ways forward can be harmful when it comes to pandemics.…
“Don’t Compare Past Pandemics to the COVID-19 Crisis”, Georgetown University Interviews Timothy Newfield
April 1st, 2020
Georgetown University talked with Timothy Newfield about the differences between this pandemic and devastating flu of the early 1900s.…
“The Justinianic Plague: An Inconsequential Pandemic?”
December 2nd, 2019
Timothy Newfield and his co-authors challenge current consensus about the number of deaths and significance of the Justinianic Plague.…
“Rapid Range Shifts in African Anopheles Mosquitoes Over the Last Century”
June 19th, 2019
The team of researchers that includes Emily Mendenhall and Timothy Newfield uses historical data to trace range shifts in Anopheles mosquitoes, which are the vector of malaria and several neglected tropical diseases.…
“Mysterious and Mortiferous Clouds: The Climate Cooling and Disease Burden of Late Antiquity”
February 21st, 2019
Timothy Newfield inquires on the influence of climate on disease in Late Antiquity. Particular attention is paid to the Justinianic Plague, but the potential impacts of a changing climate on malaria and non-yersinial, non-plague, epidemics are not overlooked.…