Chris John Date (born 18 January 1941[1]) is an independent author, lecturer, researcher, and consultant, specializing in relational database theory.

Chris Date attended High Wycombe Royal Grammar School (U.K.) from 1951 to 1958 and received his BA in Mathematics from Cambridge University (U.K.) in 1962.

In 1966, he earned his master's degree at Cambridge, and, in 1967, he joined IBM Hursley (UK) as a computer programming instructor.

As of 2007 his book An Introduction to Database Systems, currently in its 8th edition, has sold well over 700,000 copies[2] not counting translations, and is used by several hundred colleges and universities worldwide.

Chris Date is the author of several books, including: In recent years he has published articles with Fabian Pascal at Database Debunkings.