David Christian of Macquaire University, Australia, has won the support of Bill Gates and Microsoft to support development of ChronoZoom, whose goal is:

to make time relationships between different studies of history clear and vivid. In the process, it provides a framework for exploring related electronic resources. It thus serves as a “master timeline” tying together all kinds of specialized timelines and electronic resources, and aspires to bridge the gap between the humanities and the sciences and to bring together and unify all knowledge of the past.

For more information about ChronoZoom visit chronozoomproject.org

For a blog about Microsoft’s plans for the project click here

And here’s a video about ChronoZoom