Colin Pillinger

Pillinger was born on 9 May 1943 in Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, just outside Bristol.{{cite web|url=http://colinpillinger.com/barnstormpr.co.uk/biography.htm |title=Biography |publisher=Pillinger's personal website |access-date=30 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218205618/http://colinpillinger.com/barnstormpr.co.uk/biography.htm |archive-date=18 February 2012 |df=dmy }} His father, Alfred, a manual worker for the Gas Board, and his mother, Florence (née Honour), also had a daughter Doreen (the local historian D.P. Lindegaard), 6 years Colin's senior, born 1937.{{Cite web|last=Lindegaard|first=Kevin|date=2021-02-28|title=Killed in a coalpit|url=https://bafhs.org.uk/product/killed-in-a-coalpit/|url-status=live|website=Bristol and Avon Family History Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921071103/https://bafhs.org.uk/product/killed-in-a-coalpit/ |archive-date=21 September 2020 }}{{cite episode |title=Desert Island Discs with Colin Pillinger |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ncwp6 |series=Desert Island Discs | series-link=Desert Island Discs |network=BBC |station=Radio 4 |airdate=2009-10-25}} He attended Kingswood Grammar School, and later graduated with a BSc and a PhD in chemistry from University College of Swansea (now Swansea University). He said of himself, "I was a disaster as a science student".{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2002/dec/29/spaceexploration.observermagazine | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Robin | last=McKie | title=Colin Pillinger | date=29 December 2002}}

After graduating from university, Pillinger became a senior research associate in the Department of Earth Science at the University of Cambridge, and then a senior research fellow at The Open University (1984–1990). He became a professor in interplanetary science at The Open University in 1991.[https://www.gov.uk/government/news/professor-colin-pillinger-cbe-frs Professor Colin Pillinger CBE FRS - News Stories - GOV.UK] (accessed 12 May 2014)

Pillinger's first job was working for NASA. He was involved in the Apollo space programme and ESA's Rosetta mission,[http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/colin-pillinger-dies-aged-70/2013206.article Colin Pillinger dies aged 70 Times Higher Education (8 May 2014)] (accessed 12 May 2014) and analysed the lunar samples brought back by Apollo 11.

Between 1996 and 2000, Pillinger was made Gresham Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, a position once held by Sir Christopher Wren.[http://www.gresham.ac.uk/gresham-professor-of-astronomy Gresham Professor of Astronomy] He said of his appointment as professor of astronomy:{{cite book |last=Pavitt |first=Geoff |year=2006 |title=Portraits of the Gresham Professors |place=London |publisher=Gresham College }}

{{blockquote|"As an organic chemist, turned geologist, turned astronomer who uses isotopic analyses to unravel the origins of life, our planet, the solar system and the stars, I hope I have something in common with the versatile men who were early Gresham Professors. The subjects which I research already enjoy popular interest; by combining them to produce a story of life told from the genealogy of its elements, my aim is to appeal to the widest possible audience, using an interdisciplinary approach to attempt to unravel the time-honoured puzzle, where do I come from?"}}

Pillinger is credited with inspiring many people to take an interest in space science, particularly in Britain. He was responsible for training and supporting a large number of experts in the field as well as helping to unite the space science and industrial communities in the UK. Pillinger worked as a conference and after-dinner speaker for the JLA agency.http://www.jla.co.uk/after-dinner-speakers/colin-pillinger JLA (accessed 7 August 2012)

To demonstrate his appetite for sharing his research and promoting the public understanding of science, Pillinger laid claim to the phrase "The only thing that increases in value if you share it is knowledge".{{Cite web | url=https://www.newstatesman.com/2014/02/explorers-or-nosy-parkers |title = Explorers ... or nosy parkers| date=9 June 2021 }}

In 2000, a main belt asteroid was named 15614 Pillinger after Colin Pillinger. In 2003, he was appointed a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to higher education and to science.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} Pillinger played a role in the Philae lander that was part of the Rosetta mission which successfully made its rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in 2014. In particular he was an advocate of the idea of deploying the lander Philae to conduct scientific experiments in situ, and was instrumental in getting the Ptolemy device accepted as part of the science payload.{{cite web|url=http://rosettaptolemy.com/2014/05/13/colin-pillinger-monday-5th-may/|title=Rosetta Ptolemy Blog|access-date=15 November 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129024445/http://rosettaptolemy.com/2014/05/13/colin-pillinger-monday-5th-may/|archive-date=29 November 2014|df=dmy-all}}

File:Beagle 2 replica.jpg in the London Science Museum.]]

Pillinger was the principal investigator for Beagle 2 Mars lander project, part of European Space Agency's (ESA) 2003 Mars Express mission. Initially considered a failure, it has since come to light that the space craft did successfully touch down on the surface of Mars. The UK Space Agency on 16 January 2015 indicated that Beagle 2 had indeed reached the surface of Mars on 25 December 2003, but had failed to deploy fully.{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-led-beagle-2-lander-found-on-mars |title=Beagle 2 successfully landed on Mars on 25th December 2003 |publisher=UKSA |date=16 January 2015 |access-date=16 January 2015}} Images taken by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) identified clear evidence for the lander and convincing evidence for key entry and descent components on the surface of Mars within the expected landing area of Isidis Planitia (an impact basin close to the equator).

Recent{{Vague|date=October 2021}} research into photographs taken of the landing site by a Mars orbiter suggest that as many as three of the four solar panels may have been successfully opened.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} As the transmitter was underneath the fourth panel, the lander failed to communicate back to Earth.

When the lander was first considered 'lost' a number of possible explanations were given by David Southwood, ESA's director of Science. The commission inquiring into the mission's apparent failure also apportioned blame towards Pillinger's management of the overall project as a contributing factor.{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3741989.stm | work=BBC News | title=Beagle mission 'poorly managed' | date=24 May 2004}} In response, in his autobiography, Professor Pillinger highlighted a lack of support from key figures at ESA as a factor.

It was Pillinger's wife who thought of the Beagle 2 name for the project, based on Charles Darwin's ship {{HMS|Beagle}}.

Pillinger enlisted British rock band Blur to write a song to be Beagle 2{{'}}s call sign back home. It was to be broadcast as soon as Beagle 2 began work on the surface of Mars. He also persuaded the artist Damien Hirst to provide a spot painting to use in calibrating the spacecraft's camera.[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/may/08/beagle-2-scientist-colin-pillinger-dies Beagle 2 scientist Colin Pillinger dies aged 70, The Guardian Online (8 May 2014)] (accessed 12 May 2014)

In 2014, a science destination for the Mars rover Opportunity on the western rim of Endeavour Crater was named Pillinger Point after Colin Pillinger, in commemoration of his enthusiasm for the Beagle 2 mission.{{cite web|url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-201|title=Aluminum-Bearing Site on Mars Draws NASA Visitor|publisher=NASA|date=24 June 2014|access-date=1 July 2014}}

Beagle 2 has been mentioned in Hollywood films The Transformers: The Movie (and in the prequel Transformers: Beginnings comic) and Pillinger's work on asteroid impacts in Jurassic Park. A missing British Mars spacecraft was the subject of the 2005 Doctor Who Christmas Special. Pillinger appeared in Top Gear season 3 episode 7 and won a contest based on the best burnout.{{cite news|last1=Pukas|first1=Anna|title=Professor Colin Pillinger 1943-2014: A tribute to a very British boffin|url=http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/474865/Professor-Colin-Pillinger-1943-2014-Tribute-to-a-very-British-boffin|access-date=14 September 2017|work=Express|date=9 May 2014}} Beagle 2 featured in a science fiction story by Stephen Baxter and as one of the subjects in The Backroom Boys by Frances Spufford.{{cite news|last1=Lezard|first1=Nicholas|title=The poetry of science|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/aug/14/featuresreviews.guardianreview12|access-date=14 September 2017|work=Guardian|date=14 August 2004}}

Colin Pillinger was one of the guests talking about the planet Mars for In Our Time, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 11 January 2007.

Chronology of qualifications, career, and awards:

{{div col|colwidth=35em}}

• {{Timeline-event|date=1965|event= BSc (Chemistry) from University College of Swansea}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1968|event= PhD (Chemistry) from University College of Swansea}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1968|event=Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Bristol Department of Chemistry}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1974|event= Research Associate, at the University of Cambridge}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1976|event= Senior Research Associate, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1981|event= Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1981|event= Member of the British Mass Spectrometry Society}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1984|event= Honorary DSc (Chemistry) from University of Bristol}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1984|event= Senior Research Fellow, Department of Earth Science, Open University}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1986|event= Fellow of the Meteoritical Society}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1991|event= Appointed Professor of Planetary Sciences at the Open University}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1993|event= Member of the International Astronomical Union}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1993|event= Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1993|event= Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=1996|event= Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College in the City of London (until 2000)}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=2000|event=Main belt asteroid 15614 Pillinger named after Pillinger.{{cite web|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=15614+Pillinger|title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser on 15614 Pillinger|work=nasa.gov}}}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=2003|event= Aston Medal }}
• {{Timeline-event|date=2003|event= appointed a CBE}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=2003|event= Winner Top Gear series 3's Brain Box Burnout{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygnacujuwms/ | title=Top Gear Season 3, Episode 7}}}}
• {{Timeline-event|date=2011|event= recipient of the Michael Faraday Prize}}{{cite web | url=http://royalsociety.org/awards/michael-faraday-prize/ | title= Royal Society – Michael Faraday Prize |access-date= 4 February 2012}}

{{div col end}}

• Beagle – from Sailing Ship to Mars Spacecraft (2003) {{ISBN|978-0-571-22323-7}}
• Space is a Funny Place (Barnstorm Productions, 2007). {{ISBN|978-0-9537263-9-4}}.
• My Life on Mars – The Beagle 2 Diaries (2010) {{ISBN|978-0-9506597-3-2}}{{cite news|title=Professor Colin Pillinger — obituary|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10815922/Professor-Colin-Pillinger-obituary.html|access-date=14 September 2017|work=Telegraph|date=8 May 2014}}

Pillinger's widow, Judith, is also a scientist. They met when working in the same laboratory and had two children, a son, Nicolas Joseph, and a daughter, Shusanah Jane, who in 2015 became the first solo British woman to complete the Race Across America ultra-endurance cycle race.{{cite news|url=http://bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/33332089 | title=Shusanah Pillinger makes British RAAM history | date=30 June 2015 | newspaper=BBC Sport}}

After experiencing difficulty with walking for two years, Pillinger was diagnosed with progressive multiple sclerosis in May 2005.{{cite news|last=Ghosh |first=Pallab |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4671941.stm |title=Red Planet scientist battles MS |work=BBC News |date=18 July 2005 |access-date=30 October 2009}} He owned a dairy farm, but towards the end of his life his illness prevented him from doing physical work on the farm. Pillinger died two days before his 71st birthday at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge on 7 May 2014, after having a brain haemorrhage and falling into a coma.{{cite news|title=Colin Pillinger dies after brain haemorrhage|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27322166|access-date=8 May 2014|newspaper=BBC Online|date=8 May 2014}}

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Category:1943 births

Category:2014 deaths

Category:People from Kingswood, South Gloucestershire

Category:Alumni of Swansea University

Category:20th-century English astronomers

Category:English chemists

Category:British planetary scientists

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society

Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society

Category:Academics of the Open University

Category:Academics of Gresham College

Category:People with multiple sclerosis

Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Category:People educated at King's Oak Academy

Category:21st-century British astronomers

Category:British scientists with disabilities