James Burke (born November 22, 1936) is a British science historian, author and television producer best known for his documentary television series focusing on the history of science and technology leavened with a sense of humor.
Born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland and educated at Oxford, he received his MA from Jesus College. Later he moved to Italy where he lectured at universities in Bologna and Urbino as well as at English schools in that country.
During that time he was engaged in the creation of an English-Italian dictionary and the publication of an art encyclopedia. After a period of broadcasting work in 1966, he moved to London to join the BBC's science section where he hosted and co-hosted a number of programs. He was fascinated by the possiblities of television and the potential to educate and entertain by making programs about science and technology.
Burke first made his name as a reporter on the popular and very long-running BBC science series, Tomorrow's World. He was the BBC's anchor and chief reporter on the Project Apollo missions. His most important work is a highly-acclaimed 10-part documentary series Connections (1979) that was first aired on the BBC, and subsequently on PBS channels in the US. The series was a great success for Burke. Later, it was shown in more than 50 countries and appeared in about 350 university and college curricula. Additionally, the book that followed the series was also a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic. Burke has also been a regular contributor for Scientific American and Time magazines and served as a consultant to the SETI project.
Documentary series made by James Burke:
- The Real Thing on various aspects of perception
- The Neuron Suite on the human brain
- Connections (TV series)
- The Day the Universe Changed
- Masters of Illusion on Renaissance painting
- After the Warming on the greenhouse effect
- Connections 2 (sometimes written Connections2)
- Connections 3 (or Connections3)
- Re-Connections on Burke's corpus of work, as well as an introduction to his Knowledge Web project.
His books (in order):
- Tomorrow's World I
- Tomorrow's World II
- Connections
- The Day the Universe Changed
- Chances
- The Axemaker's Gift (with Robert Ornstein)
- The Pinball Effect
- The Knowledge Web
- Circles
- Twin Tracks
- American Connections (scheduled for publication in 2006)
James Burke is the leading figure of the KnowledgeWeb Project. This is the digital incarnation of his books and television programs, which allows the user to fly through history and create their own connective paths. It will eventually have immersive, inhabited virtual reality recreations of historical people and places.
In the closing scenes of The Day the Universe Changed, Burke suggested that a forthcoming revolution in communication and computer technology would allow people all over the world to exchange ideas and opinions instantaneously. Subsequent events seem to have proven him right. His views of the connected nature of history have also been substantiated by recent research in chaos/complexity/network theory. See for example complex systems and Six degrees of separation
In the closing episode of Connections 1 (1979) he offers multiple choices for future development of humanity and paints some grim consequences for the path we seem to have taken, namely to carry on what we always did.
External links
- Burke's KnowledgeWeb Project
- A website devoted to James Burke and his work
- JamesBurkeMap; a visual representation of his latest book, K-Web project, speaking engagements, and previous work. [1]
- IMDB-Entry on James Burke
- James Burke: The Knowledge Web; Voices From The Smithsonian Associates - 1 hour audio lecture
- Burke's fans newsgroup
- Yahoo group for Burke's fans
- Documentary-Video where Connections 1, 2 and 3 are available for sale
- A Spanish site devoted to James Burke and his work