| James Burke M.A. (Oxon) | |
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James Burke in 2007 |
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| Born | 22 December 1936 Derry, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | British |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Education | Oxford University, Jesus College |
| Known for | Connections, The Day the Universe Changed |
James Burke (b. 22 December 1936) is a British broadcaster, science historian, author, and television producer, who is known, among other things, for his documentary television series Connections (1978), and for its more philosophically oriented companion series, The Day the Universe Changed (1985), which is about the history of science and technology. The Washington Post called him "one of the most intriguing minds in the Western world".[1]
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James Burke was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, and was educated at Maidstone Grammar School, and at Jesus College, Oxford, where he earned an M.A. degree in Middle English. Later, Burke moved to Italy, where he lectured at universities in Bologna and Urbino, and at English schools. He was engaged in the creation of an English–Italian dictionary, and the publication of an art encyclopedia. In 1966, Burke moved to London and joined the Science and Features Department of the BBC, where he was host and co-host of several programmes. He also worked as an instructor of English as a Foreign Language, at the Regency Language School in Ramsgate.
Burke established his reputation as a reporter on the BBC science series Tomorrow's World. He was BBC television's science anchorman and chief reporter for the Project Apollo missions, as the main presenter of the BBC's coverage of the first moon landing in 1969. In collaboration with Mick Jackson, he produced the ten-part documentary series Connections (1978), which was first broadcast on BBC, and subsequently on PBS in the U.S. Connections traced the historical interrelationships between invention and discovery; each episode chronicled a particular path of technological development. In the U.S., Connections was a great success for Burke, as the most-watched PBS television series to that time; it was followed by the twenty-part Connections2 (1994, Exec. Prod. Tim Cowling), and the ten-part Connections3 (1997, Exec. Prod. Michael Latham) series. In the event, Connections: An Alternative View of Change was broadcast in more than fifty countries, and featured in the curricula of some 350 universities and colleges; and the TV series companion book Connections: An Alternative History of Technology (1978), sold well in the U.K. and the U.S.
In 1985, with Richard Reisz and John Lynch, Burke produced the ten-part series The Day the Universe Changed (revised 1995), which concentrated on the philosophical aspects of scientific change upon Western culture. In contrast to the conclusion of Connections, wherein he said that computing and communications might be controlled by a computer science élite, in the conclusion of The Day the Universe Changed he suggested that a world-wide revolution in communications and computer technology would allow people to instantaneously exchange ideas and opinions; popular access to the internet suggests he was correct. James Burke has been a regular contributing writer to Scientific American and Time magazines, been a consultant to the SETI project, and has received the gold and the silver medals of the Royal Television Society. In 1998 he was made an honorary fellow of the Society for Technical Communication.[2]
James Burke is the leading figure of the KnowledgeWeb Project, the digital realisation of his books and television programmes, which allows the user to travel through history, and create his or her own connections. Eventually, the KnowledgeWeb Project will feature immersive virtual-reality historical recreations of people, places, and events.
The BBC comedy series Not The Nine O'Clock News presented a sketch in which Griff Rhys-Jones, imitating the narrative manner of James Burke, delivered a passage of elaborately mischievous prose that concluded: “So, there we have it. It’s all really very simple, and if it isn’t, I make it up. So, until then, goodbye.” He then exits the scene, but suddenly reappears: “Hello again. Ha! That fooled you, didn’t it; or, did it?”[3]
The final verse of the electronic pop music song The Black Hit of Space, by The Human League, mentioned him in the final verse: “Get james Burke on the case”. The song describes a gramophone record that distorts space and time when played, and how it affects the world. The reference is in the album Travelogue (1980), and coincided with the broadcast of Burke’s television programme The Real Thing, about human perception.
Television series and documentaries by James Burke: