Eric Burgess

Eric Burgess (1920 – March 2005) was an English freelance consultant, lecturer and journalist, who wrote about the Pioneer program of space missions since the first tests in 1957. He was the science correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor in the period of many of the planetary probe launches, and was often the senior science reporter present at many of those events.

Burgess was a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and British Interplanetary Society, and an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is credited with the original idea that the Pioneer probes should carry a message for extraterrestrial intelligences. He approached Carl Sagan about his idea, which eventually resulted in the Pioneer plaque.

Bibliography

• Murray, Bruce; Burgess, Eric (1982). Flight to Mercury. Sybex Inc.. ISBN 0895880873. 
• Burgess, Eric (1982). Celestial Basic: Astronomy on Your Computer. Sybex Inc.. ISBN 0895880873. 
• Burgess, Eric (1988). Uranus and Neptune: The Distant Giants. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231064926. 
• Burgess, Eric (1990). Return to the Red Planet. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231069421. 
• Burgess, Eric (1993). Outpost on Apollo's Moon. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231076665. 
• Burgess, Eric (1992). Far Encounter: The Neptune System. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231074123. 
• Fimmel, Richard O.; Colin, Lawrence; Burgess, Eric (1992). Pioneer Venus: A Planet Unveiled. NASA Ames Research Center. ISBN 0964553708. 

References

• Kilburn, Kevin J. (2007-11-09). "Eric Burgess: Manchester's First Rocket Man". Astronomy in the UK. http://www.mikeoates.org/astro-history/burgess.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-02.