Eric Burgess (1920 – March 2005) was an English freelance consultant, lecturer and journalist, who wrote about the
Pioneer program
The Pioneer programs were two series of United States lunar and planetary space probes. The first program, which ran from 1958 to 1960, unsuccessfully attempted to send spacecraft to orbit the Moon, successfully sent one spacecraft to fly by the ...
of space missions since the first tests in 1957. He was the science correspondent of the ''
Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper b ...
'' during many of the planetary probe launches, and was often the senior science reporter present at many of them.
Burgess is credited with the original idea that the Pioneer probes should carry a message for
extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial may refer to:
Science
* Extraterrestrial life, life that occurs outside of Earth and that probably did not originate from Earth
Media
* ''Extraterrestrial'' (TV program), a program on the National Geographic Channel
* '' Extrate ...
intelligences.
He approached
Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including e ...
about his idea, which eventually resulted in the
Pioneer plaque. Burgess was a
fellow
A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
of the
Royal Astronomical Society
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...
and
British Interplanetary Society
The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest existing space advocacy organisation in the world. Its aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration.
St ...
, and an associate fellow of the
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecra ...
.
Burgess and
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.
Clarke co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A ...
were both charter members of the British Interplanetary Society and lifelong friends. While Clarke claimed he invented the idea of using three satellites in geostationary orbit to create the global communication relay in common use (book dust jacket front fold-over sleeve of ''
The Exploration of Space'', A.C. Clarke, Harper Bros., 1951), Burgess claimed to have given the idea to Clarke in the late 1940s. Shortly before his death Burgess had a large collection of film and printed media on the subject of rocketry and space exploration that may have been donated by his heirs to a local library. Perhaps his greatest contribution other than the claim of having the idea for geosynchronous satellite communication networks (disputed with characteristic droll humor by Clarke) was his chronicling of the initial exploration of the
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
(re: bibliography). He was also the science adviser for the 1979 James Bond film ''
Moonraker'' which received an Academy Award nomination for its visuals which Burgess helped edit for accuracy.
Bibliography
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References
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* http://astrotalkuk.org/2012/03/27/episode-50-26th-march-2012-manchester-first-rocket-scientists/
;Specific
1920 births
2005 deaths
20th-century British astronomers
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