Heather Couper & Nigel Henbest
HEATHER COUPER
Heather Couper is a leading international communicator on astronomy and space.
After attending both Leicester and Oxford Universities (where she studied astrophysics), Heather went on to run the Greenwich Planetarium. She later became President of the British Astronomical Association and Gresham Professor of Astronomy. Heather was also a member of the Millennium Commission, which funded over £2 billions-worth of new capital projects in the UK, including many new science centres.
After presenting two TV series for Channel 4, Heather and two colleagues set up Pioneer Productions . now one of the leading factual TV companies in the UK. She was the producer of Universe, and of the international award-winning programme Electric Skies . the classic film on lightning.
Heather has now left Pioneer to concentrate on a wider range of ventures. She enjoys writing (30+ books now), broadcasting (many radio programmes and series under the belt) and TV presentation . most recently in a .profile. of Stephen Hawking for the BBC (2002), and the Channel 4.s Space Shuttle: Human Time Bomb? (2003).
Her groundbreaking book Mars . the Inside Story of the Red Planet explores the still.outstanding mysteries of the Red Planet through interviews with over 50 leading Mars experts. In 2003, she hosted two major Mars documentaries on BBC Radio 4, and presented her latest series .Worlds Beyond . in January 2005. Later this year, her programme A History of British Rocketry will air on R4.
Her last book . Philips Sargazing . came out in November 2006. This Christmas sees the publication of a major book featuring Hubble images . Out of this World.
In May 2005, she was chief guest celebrity on P&O.s new cruise liner The Arcadia. She.s recently presented an appreciation of Arthur C. Clarke on Radio 4, after travelling to Sri Lanka for an exclusive interview (October 2005).
Away from all these serious bits, she loves travel, the English countryside, food and wine, swimming, walking and cycling. Her especial passion is classical music, and she hosted a pre-Proms talk at the Royal Albert Hall in August 2005.
Website: www.hencoup.com/heather.htm
Recent books (all with Nigel Henbest): Space Encyclopedia - Dorling Kindersley 1999 Universe - C4 Books 1999 Mars: The Inside Story of the Red Planet- Headline 2001 Stargazing 2007 - Philips 2007Nigel Henbest
Nigel Henbest is a leading science populariser, specialising in astronomy and space.
After a first degree in astrophysics at Leicester University, Nigel researched in radio astronomy at Cambridge, where he studied supernovae, radio galaxies and quasars. Subsequently, he developed geophysical equipment that he installed on Mount Etna.
All along, Nigel was aware that the pace of scientific discovery was not being effectively communicated to the public. He became Media Consultant to the Royal Greenwich Observatory, and Astronomy Consultant to New Scientist magazine . as well as Editor of the Journal of the British Astronomical Association.
A prolific author, Nigel.s 36 books - and over 1000 articles - have been translated into 27 languages. He is currently a columnist for The Independent newspaper and Focus magazine. Nigel.s latest title (with Heather Couper ) is Philip.s Stargazing 2007 (Philip.s). His ground-breaking books include The New Astronomy, The Guide to the Galaxy and Mars . the Inside Story of the Red Planet (with Heather Couper)
Nigel has also chaired the science quiz The Litmus Test on BBC Radio 4, and co-presented the long-running astronomy series Seeing Stars on BBC World Service.
In addition, Nigel is an award-winning TV producer and scriptwriter, and a founder of Pioneer Productions . a leading independent television production company, making programmes for Channel 4, Discovery Channel and many other international broadcasters. With colleagues at Pioneer, he launched the internationally acclaimed science website, FirstScience.com.
His major television credits include Body Atlas (13-part series, TLC), the documentaries On Jupiter (Discovery) and Black Holes (C4/Discovery/ABC), and three highly-acclaimed series for Channel 4: Universe, Edge of the Universe and The Day the Earth was Born. His most recent production was the drama-documentary Challenger (C4/National Geographic) in January 2006.
Website: www.hencoup.com/nigel.htm