John Charles Caldwell

John C. Caldwell was born in Sydney, Australia.

1946 He was educated at Sydney University and Sydney Teachers College (1948), University of New England (1955-1958)

1961 He completed his PhD at The Australian National University, started in 1959 with a study of the demography of Malaysia and Singapore.

His 1976 paper Restatement of demographic transition theory, which examines changing directions of intergenerational wealth flows, "remains the single most influential work in this area," according to the United Nations.

His most well known work relates to the theory of fertility transition, the role of education in the control of child mortality, the social and economic factors of HIV/AIDS infection in Africa and the development of quasi-anthropological approaches to population field research.

1985 won the Irene Tauber Award for Excellence in Demographic Research by the Population Association of America.

1989 he helped start the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University in Canberra. He remained here till 1998 as Director of its Health Transition Centre.

1991 The Health Transition Review was published from the Australian National University until 1997 with John C. Caldwell as its editor. In 1998 its publication was transferred to the Harvard School of Public Health with Alan G. Hill as editor.

1992 Honorary Doctor of Science (Social Sciences), University of Southampton. Honorary Doctor of Science (Science), Australian National University.

In 1994 he was awarded an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO).

1995 he retired as Professor at the Australian National University and Associate Director of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health.

An international conference The Continuing Demographic Transition John C Caldwell Seminar was held in his honour at the Australian National University, Canberra.

1996 became Emeritus Professor of Demography at the Australian National University.

1998 the John C Caldwell Chair in Population, Health and Development was established in his honour at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health.

2003 Centenary Medal for services to Australian society in epidemiology and population health.

2004 awarded one of the world's most prestigious accolades in his field, the United Nations Population Award.

Emeritus Professor Caldwell is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and has been president of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population and a member of the Population Council. He is the author of 25 books, 128 book chapters and 139 journal articles.