Astrobiology (general)

John Billingham

By Keith Cowing
SpaceRef
August 7, 2013
Filed under
John Billingham

Keith’s note: NASA sources report that John Billingham has passed away. John ran the SETI Program Office when NASA used to do SETI. He also ran life science at NASA Ames.

John was one of the first people I met when I started to work at NASA’s Life Sciences Division in the 1980s. He was not your stereotypical NASA employee – his accent, background, and demeanor – were decidely old world mixed with a dose of California crazy. An M.D. and former RAF officer running NASA’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence? That sounds like something out of Dr. Who. That was John – he was always a hoot to be around and will be missed.

John Billingham, SETI Institute

“Captivated by the prospect of detecting sentient beings elsewhere in the cosmos, Billingham joined with Barney Oliver – then director of research and development at the Hewlett Packard corporation – to organize a joint summer design study of the technology and science of SETI. Two dozen academics spent three months considering what sort of equipment was needed to make a serious, systematic search for signals, and where they should point the antennas. Their conclusions, published as “Project Cyclops,” became the bible of SETI research for decades to come, and are still important today.”

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻