About the editors

Lee Pullen

Lee is a British science communicator known for working on a great variety of journalism and outreach projects. His career, such as it is, began with a degree in astronomy rapidly followed with an MSc in Science Communication. The most useful thing to come from that was meeting long-time ally and co-editor Mariana Barrosa.

Next came a stint lecturing undergraduate students, and then teaching astronomy in local communities; whether the people wanted to listen or not. Recognising that children are an easier audience he turned his attention to more impressionable minds, running astronomy workshops and mobile planetarium shows for school classes. The zenith of this section was directing the first (and to the best of his knowledge, last) science festival held in the Welsh Valleys.

Realising that journalism is more profitable, he began writing for NASA's Astrobiology Webmagazine where one article once famously proved so popular it crashed their site. Space.com, Yahoo! News and even Fox News regularly reproduced his texts.

Following this Lee worked for the European Southern Observatory and ESA Hubble in Munich, where he learnt to type at incredible pace. During this time he began working for the International Astronomical Union as Staff Writer for the International Year of Astronomy 2009, the largest science outreach initiative ever. His Friday news round-ups and Twitter feed are the stuff of legend. It was during this eventful period he worked as Editor of the Cosmic Diary, and also wrote four LiveBlogs, the success of which surprised him more than anyone.

To fund his lavish lifestyle post-International Year of Astronomy 2009, Lee began working for At-Bristol, the South West UK's leading science centre. There his duties include writing planetarium shows and failing to update the Education Calendar. He also works for ESO and ESA Hubble once again, ensuring that his speedy typing skills are fully utilised. To top it off he's a consultant for The Science Office, which adds confusion to his work schedule.

To summarise: Lee believed that science communication would be a fast-track to fame and fortune. He was wrong. But at least it's helped him populate his website: www.leepullen.co.uk

Mariana Barrosa

Mariana coordinated Centro Multimeios de Espinho, a science centre in Portugal, since its opening in 2000. There, in addition to her management responsibilities, she worked in several science popularisation projects, from writing scripts for planetarium shows to organising scientific events and conferences.

In recent years she has collaborated with several international science communication projects, like the coordination of the production and distribution of the Portuguese version of the book and DVD “Hubble — 15 years of discoveries” and the Press Office for Europlanet, the European Network of Planetary Sciences.

In 2007, she completed an MSc in Science Communication in the UK. From April 2008 she was the Coordination Assistant in the International Year of Astronomy 2009 Secretariat in Munich, Germany. Together with Lee Pullen, she managed the Cosmic Diary project.

Mariana is now responsible for Executive Management, Project Development, and Editorial Unit Overseeing for The Science Office, a new Science Communication company.

Lars Lindberg Christensen

Lars is a science communication specialist heading ESO-Hubble outreach group in Munich, Germany, where he is responsible for public outreach and education for VLT, La Silla, ALMA (the largest and most expensive ground-based astronomical project currently under construction), ELT (the largest visible light/near-infrared telescope in planning), and ESA’s part of the Hubble Space Telescope.

He obtained his Master’s Degree in physics and astronomy from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Before assuming his current position, he spent a decade working as a science communicator and technical specialist for the Tycho Brahe Planetarium in Copenhagen.

Lars has more than 100 publications to his credit, most of them in popular science communication and its theory. His other productive interests cover several major areas of communication, including graphical, written, technical and scientific communication. He has written a number of books, notably Eyes on the Skies (Wiley, 2009) The Hands-On Guide for Science Communicators (Springer, 2007) and Hubble — 15 Years of Discovery (Springer, 2006). His books have been translated into Finnish, Portuguese, Danish, German and Chinese.

He has produced material for a multitude of different media from star shows, laser shows and slide shows, to web, print, television and radio. His methodology is focussed on devising and implementing innovative strategies for the production of efficient science communication and educational material. This work involves collaborations with highly skilled graphics professionals and technicians. Some of the products of these collaborations are visible at: www.eso.org and www.spacetelescope.org.

Lars is Press Officer for the International Astronomical Union (IAU), initiator of the ESA/ESO/NASA Photoshop FITS Liberator project, executive editor of the peer-reviewed Communicating Astronomy with the Public journal, director of the Hubblecast video podcast, manager of the IAU International Year of Astronomy 2009 Secretariat and the Executive producer and director of the science documentary Hubble — 15 Years of Discovery. In 2005 he received the Tycho Brahe Medal for his achievements in science communication.