Peter Baldwin (born December 22, 1956) is a research professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles, Global Distinguished Professor at New York University, and a philanthropist.

Academic career

He was educated at Harvard (MA and PhD, both in History 1980 and 1986), and Yale (BA Philosophy and History, 1978). He has written several books on the comparative history of Europe and America. Baldwin also serves on the boards of the New York Public Library, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Central European University, and as chair of the board of the Center for Jewish History.

Philanthropy

With his wife Lisbet Rausing, who is an heir of the Tetra Pak fortune, Baldwin co-founded the Arcadia Fund in 2001. The Fund has given away over $1 billion to charities and scholarly institutions globally that preserve cultural heritage and the environment and promote open access. Arcadia-funded projects include the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, The Endangered Archives Programme at the British Library and Fauna & Flora International's Halcyon Land and Sea fund. Baldwin joined the advisory board of the Wikimedia Endowment in 2016. Baldwin and Rausing gave $5 million to the Wikimedia Endowment in 2017 and are listed among the biggest benefactors to the Wikimedia Foundation.

Publications