Heather Page 1

Heather Couper is an international broadcaster and writer on astronomy, space and science. Although a scientist by training, she has spent the last twenty years working entirely in the media. She has hosted two major series on British television (C4), and many TV programmes and radio shows - including the long-running series Seeing Stars on BBC World Service. She has also written over 30 books, including Philip's Stargazing 2008, a regular yearbook of astronomy co-authored with Nigel Henbest. The newest contribution from the Hencoup team is The History of Astronomy, published in 2007. Heather's latest book, Universe, was also published in 2007.

On 2 June 1999 the International Astronomical Union named asteroid number 3922 "Heather" in her honour.

In 1988 Heather co-founded - which is now one of the UK’s top independent TV production companies. Black Holes, which she produced, took Gold at the New York Film and TV Festival.

Later in 2005, Heather went to Sri Lanka to interview Arthur C. Clarke. Her programme: Arthur C. Clarke: the Science and the Fiction for Radio 4 celebrated the 60^th anniversary of Clarke’s prediction of communications satellites. And in 2007, she presented another Radio 4 programme: Britain’s Space Race, highlighting the UK’s contributions to the early years of rocketry. It won the coveted "Arthur" (Sir Arthur Clarke Award) - the space equivalent of the Oscars - for Best Presentation, TV & Radio at the 2008 UK Space Conference.

Heather’s latest project is to write and present a 30-part series for Radio 4 on the history of astronomy. Cosmic Quest, which airs every weekday for six weeks at 15:45 BST from 26 May, with a one-hour Omnibus edition on Friday evenings at 21:00.

Away from TV and radio, Heather enjoys communicating science - particularly to adults, where the understanding of controversial issues is critical. From September 1993 to September 1996, she was Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College (founded in the City of London in 1597) - a post that involved giving many public talks.

She is past-President of both the British Astronomical Association and the Society for Popular Astronomy. Heather is also Astronomy columnist for The Independent and BBC Focus magazine, and has been a member of the Millennium Commission - where she persuaded her colleagues to spend lottery money on building science centres.

In addition, she gives corporate and celebrity presentations worldwide. In 2003, she undertook a major media tour of Australia, travelling to locations from Brisbane to Wagga Wagga. Later that year, Heather visited China, to open International Space Week - just weeks after the flight of the first Chinese astronaut. In 2005, she was the guest celebrity on P&O's new ocean liner, the Arcadia.