Dr. John Billingham,

BM BCh Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United Kin ...

, (March 18, 1930 – August 4, 2013) was a British

Physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and later director of the

SETI The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other p ...

Program Office and Director of the Life Sciences Division at the

NASA Ames Research Center The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laborat ...

in the USA. After retiring from

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

he became a Trustee of the

SETI Institute The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization incorporated in 1984 whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to use this knowledge to inspire and guide present and futu ...

Board of Directors. He was born in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

, England in 1930 and educated at the

Royal Grammar School Worcester The Royal Grammar School Worcester (also known as RGS Worcester or RGSW) is an eleven-eighteen Mixed-sex education, mixed, Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school and sixth form in Worcester, England, Worcester, Worcestershire ...

. From there he went on to

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

to study

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

. He gained a BM BCh degree from Oxford and Guy's Hospital, London (which is equivalent to an M.D. in the US). He served as a medical officer with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

(RAF) for seven years, rising to the rank of

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also ...

(equivalent to Major in the USAF). In 1963, he was invited to join NASA’s

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

in Houston, Texas, where he headed the Environmental Physiology Branch, and worked on the

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

Gemini Gemini may refer to: Space * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac ** Gemini in Chinese astronomy * Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program * Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Northern ...

and

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

programs. In 1965 he moved to the

in California, where he headed up the Biotechnology Division, then the Extraterrestrial Research Division, and later the Life Science Division. In 1977 he appeared in the television documentary ''Mysteries of the Gods'' hosted by

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

to outline the projected search for extraterrestrial life that would later become

Project Cyclops Project Cyclops is a 1971 NASA project that investigated how SETI should be conducted. As a NASA product the report is in the public domain. The project team created a design for coordinating large numbers of radio telescopes to search for Earth ...

. In 2009 he was inducted into the NASA Ames Hall of Fame where he was recognized for his efforts as the Father of SETI in NASA. After retiring from NASA he joined the

as Senior Scientist, and in 1995 he became a Member of the SETI Institute's

Board of Trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

, serving a term as Vice-Chair. He was also one of the people behind Project Cyclops. He died at the age of 83 in

Grass Valley, California Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this northern Gold Country city is by car from Sacramento, from Sacramento I ...

in August 2013.

References

External links

Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
,1993, NASA Technical Reports Server
A reply from earth - A proposed approach to developing a message from humankind to extraterrestrial intelligence after we detect them
,1990, NASA Technical Reports Server
The Evolution of Complex Life
, 1989, NASA Technical Reports Server
Cultural aspects of SETI
, 1991, NASA Technical Reports Server
Detection of the earth with the SETI microwave observing system assumed to be operating out in the Galaxy
, 1991, NASA Technical Reports
An overview of selected biomedical aspects of Mars missions
, 1989, NASA Technical Reports Server *
'Father of SETI' at NASA, John Billingham
astrobio.net
Remembering John Billingham
centauri-dreams.org, Retrieved 2013-08-09. {{DEFAULTSORT:Billingham, John 1930 births 2013 deaths Military personnel from Worcester, England Royal Air Force officers Search for extraterrestrial intelligence People educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester NASA people English emigrants to the United States Physicians from California Alumni of University College, Oxford Medical doctors from Worcester, England 20th-century English medical doctors 21st-century English medical doctors