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B. Gentry Lee

Chief Engineer for Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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B. Gentry Lee Biography

  1. Gentry Lee is chief engineer for the Solar System Exploration Directorate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. In that position, Lee is responsible for the engineering integrity of all the robotic planetary missions managed by JPL for NASA. His major recent work includes the engineering oversight of the fantastically successful and popular Curiosity rover mission to Mars in August 2012, the Dawn mission to the asteroids Vesta and Ceres, the Juno mission to Jupiter and the GRAIL missions to the Moon. Previously, Lee provided guidance and oversight for the engineering aspects of the Phoenix and twin rover missions to Mars, as well as NASA’s successful Deep Impact and Stardust missions.

Lee was chief engineer for the Galileo project from 1977-1988 and, after working in a variety of positions on the Viking project from 1968-76, was Director of Science Analysis and Mission Planning during the Viking operations. The historic Viking mission was mankind’s first successful landing on another planet.

From 1976 until 1981, Lee was the late Carl Sagan’s partner in the creation, design, development and implementation of Cosmos, the highly successful science documentary series for television that won several Emmys and the prestigious Peabody Award. In July 2009, Gentry Lee was the featured performer/narrator in Are We Alone?, a two-hour Discovery Channel documentary about life in the solar system.

In addition to his engineering work, Gentry Lee is a successful science fiction novelist, a futurist, a computer product designer, media columnist, lecturer and a television performer/narrator. Between 1989 and 1994, he co-authored four novels, Cradle, Rama II, The Garden of Rama and Rama Revealed, with revered science fiction grandmaster Arthur C. Clarke. All four books were New York Times bestsellers and were translated into over twenty-five languages. Since his collaboration with Clarke, Gentry Lee has written three more successful solo novels, Bright Messengers, Double Full Moon Night and The Tranquility Wars.

Lee received the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement in 1976 and the Distinguished Service Medal (NASA’s highest award) in 2005. In October 2006, he received the prestigious Harold Masursky Award from the American Astronomical Society and in June 2014 he received the Al Seiff Memorial Award, both for his contributions to planetary exploration. In 2013, Lee was awarded the prestigious Simon Ramo Medal by the IEEE for “career excellence in engineering.”

Gentry Lee received a BA, summa cum laude, from the University of Texas at Austin in 1963 and an MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964. Lee has been giving lectures all over the world on subjects related to the future, space, and science and technology. His informative speeches touch upon the topics of extraterrestrials, the exploration of the planets and the critical importance of science literacy.

Speaking Topics
  • A Vision of the 21st Century

    Major biological breakthroughs toward the end of the 20th century basically guaranteed that not just medicine and health but also the fundamentals of birth, death, and all phases of life will be drastically altered by continuing discoveries throughout the 21st century. But the "Biological Revolution" will be accompanied by equally dramatic change in many other areas. In geopolitics, the complete integration of Europe and the rapid emergence of China, India, and Brazil will create new economic and military alliances. The world will eventually agree to reduce the anthropogenic contribution to global warming, but the exact form of that agreement will evolve over time and ultimately have a significant impact on our daily lives. New Earths will be discovered, planets around other stars, where water is liquid and life is possible. At the personal level, the availability of ever more appealing and sophisticated "virtual worlds" will cause a large fraction of the world population to spend less and less time and energy in the "real world."

    What will happen in the 21st century that will alter our daily lives as much as the cell phone and email? How can individuals, groups, and corporations keep track of the dizzying pace of change in so many dimensions and determine which innovations and discoveries will impact them the most? In "A Vision of the 21st Century," Gentry Lee will address the coming changes and suggest a blueprint for being successful in the decades ahead.

  • Balancing Innovation & Risk in Engineering Design

    Global competition and intense marketplace pressure have combined to increase the demand for more and more innovation in new designs. But innovation is always accompanied by risk – risk that the design will not meet its technical objectives and/or will significantly overrun its target cost and schedule. Over several decades the American robotic planetary exploration program has evolved techniques for tracking and assessing the risks associated with engineering innovation. Using the Mars exploration program as the example case study, and highlighting both the successes and failures of the program, this talk will examine the balance between innovation and risk in engineering design.

  • Balancing Innovation & Risk in Applying New Technology

    The twin Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) landed successfully using airbags on the surface of the red planet in January 2004 after decelerating from over 10,000 mph to 20 mph in just six minutes. Their sister mission, Phoenix, landed gently on three legs in the Martian arctic in May 2008. In the summer of 2005, the Deep Impact robotic spacecraft smashed into the comet Tempel 1 traveling at a closing velocity of over 25,000 mph, while another, parent spacecraft photographed the collision. Space missions like these are enormous engineering challenges and require the use of innovative new technology to be successful. However, using new technology has formidable risks. Balancing the advantages of innovation against its inherent risks is one of the most critical of all design processes. Achieving that balance requires a careful understanding of "what bad things might happen" and a systematic approach to mitigating those risks throughout the life cycle of a product or a project.

  • Mars Exploration

  • The Power & Wonder of Science in Education

Books
The Tranquility Wars

The Tranquility Wars

Double Full Moon Night

Double Full Moon Night

Bright Messengers: A New Novel Set in the Rama Universe

Bright Messengers: A New Novel Set in the Rama Universe

FAQs
  • HOW TO BOOK B. Gentry Lee?

    Our booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure talent like B. Gentry Lee for both live and virtual events for over 15 years. The team at All American Entertainment represents and listens to the needs of organizations and corporations seeking to hire keynote speakers, celebrities or entertainers for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment. Fill out a booking request form for B. Gentry Lee, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to discuss your upcoming event. One of our experienced agents will be happy to help you get pricing information and check availability for B. Gentry Lee or any other celebrity of your choice.
  • HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO BOOK B. Gentry Lee?

    Speaking fees for B. Gentry Lee, or any other keynote speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. The amount that B. Gentry Lee charges to speak often varies according to the circumstances, including their schedule, market conditions, length of presentation, and the location of the event. The speaker fees listed on this website are intended to serve as a guideline only. In some cases, the actual quote may be above or below the stated range. For the most current fee to hire B. Gentry Lee, please fill out the booking request form or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak with an experienced booking agent.
  • WHO IS THE AGENT FOR B. Gentry Lee?

    All American Entertainment has successfully secured celebrity talent like B. Gentry Lee for clients worldwide for more than 15 years. As a full-service talent booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Fill out the booking request form or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book B. Gentry Lee for your next private or corporate function.
  • WHAT IS A FULL-SERVICE TALENT BOOKING AGENCY?

    All American Speakers is a "buyers agent" and exclusively represents talent buyers, meeting planners and event professionals, who are looking to secure celebrities and speakers for personal appearances, speaking engagements, corporate entertainment, public relations campaigns, commercials, or endorsements. We do not exclusively represent B. Gentry Lee or claim ourselves as the exclusive booking agency, business manager, publicist, speakers bureau or management for B. Gentry Lee or any other speaker or celebrity on this website. For more information on how we work and what makes us unique, please read the AAE Advantage.
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This website is a resource for event professionals and strives to provide the most comprehensive catalog of thought leaders and industry experts to consider for speaking engagements. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent.

All American Entertainment (AAE) exclusively represents the interests of talent buyers, and does not claim to be the agency or management for any speaker or artist on this site. AAE is a talent booking agency for paid events only. We do not handle requests for donation of time or media requests for interviews, and cannot provide celebrity contact information.

If you are the talent and wish to request a profile update or removal from our online directory, please submit a profile request form.

Chief Engineer for Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Travels From:
Pasadena, CA, USA
Speaking Fee:

B. Gentry Lee Biography

  1. Gentry Lee is chief engineer for the Solar System Exploration Directorate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. In that position, Lee is responsible for the engineering integrity of all the robotic planetary missions managed by JPL for NASA. His major recent work includes the engineering oversight of the fantastically successful and popular Curiosity rover mission to Mars in August 2012, the Dawn mission to the asteroids Vesta and Ceres, the Juno mission to Jupiter and the GRAIL missions to the Moon. Previously, Lee provided guidance and oversight for the engineering aspects of the Phoenix and twin rover missions to Mars, as well as NASA’s successful Deep Impact and Stardust missions.

Lee was chief engineer for the Galileo project from 1977-1988 and, after working in a variety of positions on the Viking project from 1968-76, was Director of Science Analysis and Mission Planning during the Viking operations. The historic Viking mission was mankind’s first successful landing on another planet.

From 1976 until 1981, Lee was the late Carl Sagan’s partner in the creation, design, development and implementation of Cosmos, the highly successful science documentary series for television that won several Emmys and the prestigious Peabody Award. In July 2009, Gentry Lee was the featured performer/narrator in Are We Alone?, a two-hour Discovery Channel documentary about life in the solar system.

In addition to his engineering work, Gentry Lee is a successful science fiction novelist, a futurist, a computer product designer, media columnist, lecturer and a television performer/narrator. Between 1989 and 1994, he co-authored four novels, Cradle, Rama II, The Garden of Rama and Rama Revealed, with revered science fiction grandmaster Arthur C. Clarke. All four books were New York Times bestsellers and were translated into over twenty-five languages. Since his collaboration with Clarke, Gentry Lee has written three more successful solo novels, Bright Messengers, Double Full Moon Night and The Tranquility Wars.

Lee received the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement in 1976 and the Distinguished Service Medal (NASA’s highest award) in 2005. In October 2006, he received the prestigious Harold Masursky Award from the American Astronomical Society and in June 2014 he received the Al Seiff Memorial Award, both for his contributions to planetary exploration. In 2013, Lee was awarded the prestigious Simon Ramo Medal by the IEEE for “career excellence in engineering.”

Gentry Lee received a BA, summa cum laude, from the University of Texas at Austin in 1963 and an MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964. Lee has been giving lectures all over the world on subjects related to the future, space, and science and technology. His informative speeches touch upon the topics of extraterrestrials, the exploration of the planets and the critical importance of science literacy.

B. Gentry Lee Speaking Topics

  • A Vision of the 21st Century

    Major biological breakthroughs toward the end of the 20th century basically guaranteed that not just medicine and health but also the fundamentals of birth, death, and all phases of life will be drastically altered by continuing discoveries throughout the 21st century. But the "Biological Revolution" will be accompanied by equally dramatic change in many other areas. In geopolitics, the complete integration of Europe and the rapid emergence of China, India, and Brazil will create new economic and military alliances. The world will eventually agree to reduce the anthropogenic contribution to global warming, but the exact form of that agreement will evolve over time and ultimately have a significant impact on our daily lives. New Earths will be discovered, planets around other stars, where water is liquid and life is possible. At the personal level, the availability of ever more appealing and sophisticated "virtual worlds" will cause a large fraction of the world population to spend less and less time and energy in the "real world."

    What will happen in the 21st century that will alter our daily lives as much as the cell phone and email? How can individuals, groups, and corporations keep track of the dizzying pace of change in so many dimensions and determine which innovations and discoveries will impact them the most? In "A Vision of the 21st Century," Gentry Lee will address the coming changes and suggest a blueprint for being successful in the decades ahead.

  • Balancing Innovation & Risk in Engineering Design

    Global competition and intense marketplace pressure have combined to increase the demand for more and more innovation in new designs. But innovation is always accompanied by risk – risk that the design will not meet its technical objectives and/or will significantly overrun its target cost and schedule. Over several decades the American robotic planetary exploration program has evolved techniques for tracking and assessing the risks associated with engineering innovation. Using the Mars exploration program as the example case study, and highlighting both the successes and failures of the program, this talk will examine the balance between innovation and risk in engineering design.

  • Balancing Innovation & Risk in Applying New Technology

    The twin Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) landed successfully using airbags on the surface of the red planet in January 2004 after decelerating from over 10,000 mph to 20 mph in just six minutes. Their sister mission, Phoenix, landed gently on three legs in the Martian arctic in May 2008. In the summer of 2005, the Deep Impact robotic spacecraft smashed into the comet Tempel 1 traveling at a closing velocity of over 25,000 mph, while another, parent spacecraft photographed the collision. Space missions like these are enormous engineering challenges and require the use of innovative new technology to be successful. However, using new technology has formidable risks. Balancing the advantages of innovation against its inherent risks is one of the most critical of all design processes. Achieving that balance requires a careful understanding of "what bad things might happen" and a systematic approach to mitigating those risks throughout the life cycle of a product or a project.

  • Mars Exploration

  • The Power & Wonder of Science in Education

B. Gentry Lee Books

FAQs on booking B. Gentry Lee

  • How to book B. Gentry Lee?

    Our booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure talent like B. Gentry Lee for both live and virtual events for over 20 years. The team at All American Entertainment represents and listens to the needs of organizations and corporations seeking to hire keynote speakers, celebrities or entertainers for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment. Fill out a booking request form for B. Gentry Lee, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to discuss your upcoming event. One of our experienced agents will be happy to help you get pricing information and check availability for B. Gentry Lee or any other celebrity of your choice.
  • How much does it cost to book B. Gentry Lee?

    Speaking fees for B. Gentry Lee, or any other keynote speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. The amount that B. Gentry Lee charges to speak often varies according to the circumstances, including their schedule, market conditions, length of presentation, and the location of the event. The speaker fees listed on this website are intended to serve as a guideline only. In some cases, the actual quote may be above or below the stated range. For the most current fee to hire B. Gentry Lee, please fill out the booking request form or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak with an experienced booking agent.
  • Who is the agent for B. Gentry Lee?

    All American Entertainment has successfully secured celebrity talent like B. Gentry Lee for clients worldwide for more than 20 years. As a full-service talent booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Fill out the booking request form or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book B. Gentry Lee for your next private or corporate function.
  • What is a full-service talent booking agency?

    All American Speakers is a "buyers agent" and exclusively represents talent buyers, meeting planners and event professionals, who are looking to secure celebrities and speakers for personal appearances, speaking engagements, corporate entertainment, public relations campaigns, commercials, or endorsements. We do not exclusively represent B. Gentry Lee or claim ourselves as the exclusive booking agency, business manager, publicist, speakers bureau or management for B. Gentry Lee or any other speaker or celebrity on this website. For more information on how we work and what makes us unique, please read the AAE Advantage.

B. Gentry Lee is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as A Vision of the 21st Century, Balancing Innovation & Risk in Engineering Design, Balancing Innovation & Risk in Applying New Technology, Mars Exploration and The Power & Wonder of Science in Education. The estimated speaking fee range to book B. Gentry Lee for your event is $10,000 - $20,000. B. Gentry Lee generally travels from Pasadena, CA, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Kathy Ireland, Dr. Will Miller, Erin Gruwell, Robert Cialdini and John Zogby. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling B. Gentry Lee for an upcoming live or virtual event.

B. Gentry Lee Speaking Topics

  • A Vision of the 21st Century

    Major biological breakthroughs toward the end of the 20th century basically guaranteed that not just medicine and health but also the fundamentals of birth, death, and all phases of life will be drastically altered by continuing discoveries throughout the 21st century. But the "Biological Revolution" will be accompanied by equally dramatic change in many other areas. In geopolitics, the complete integration of Europe and the rapid emergence of China, India, and Brazil will create new economic and military alliances. The world will eventually agree to reduce the anthropogenic contribution to global warming, but the exact form of that agreement will evolve over time and ultimately have a significant impact on our daily lives. New Earths will be discovered, planets around other stars, where water is liquid and life is possible. At the personal level, the availability of ever more appealing and sophisticated "virtual worlds" will cause a large fraction of the world population to spend less and less time and energy in the "real world."

    What will happen in the 21st century that will alter our daily lives as much as the cell phone and email? How can individuals, groups, and corporations keep track of the dizzying pace of change in so many dimensions and determine which innovations and discoveries will impact them the most? In "A Vision of the 21st Century," Gentry Lee will address the coming changes and suggest a blueprint for being successful in the decades ahead.

  • Balancing Innovation & Risk in Engineering Design

    Global competition and intense marketplace pressure have combined to increase the demand for more and more innovation in new designs. But innovation is always accompanied by risk – risk that the design will not meet its technical objectives and/or will significantly overrun its target cost and schedule. Over several decades the American robotic planetary exploration program has evolved techniques for tracking and assessing the risks associated with engineering innovation. Using the Mars exploration program as the example case study, and highlighting both the successes and failures of the program, this talk will examine the balance between innovation and risk in engineering design.

  • Balancing Innovation & Risk in Applying New Technology

    The twin Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) landed successfully using airbags on the surface of the red planet in January 2004 after decelerating from over 10,000 mph to 20 mph in just six minutes. Their sister mission, Phoenix, landed gently on three legs in the Martian arctic in May 2008. In the summer of 2005, the Deep Impact robotic spacecraft smashed into the comet Tempel 1 traveling at a closing velocity of over 25,000 mph, while another, parent spacecraft photographed the collision. Space missions like these are enormous engineering challenges and require the use of innovative new technology to be successful. However, using new technology has formidable risks. Balancing the advantages of innovation against its inherent risks is one of the most critical of all design processes. Achieving that balance requires a careful understanding of "what bad things might happen" and a systematic approach to mitigating those risks throughout the life cycle of a product or a project.

  • Mars Exploration

  • The Power & Wonder of Science in Education

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During normal business hours, we respond to most inquiries within 4 hours.

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Speakers Similar to B. Gentry Lee

This website is a resource for event professionals and strives to provide the most comprehensive catalog of thought leaders and industry experts to consider for speaking engagements. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent.

All American Entertainment (AAE) exclusively represents the interests of talent buyers, and does not claim to be the agency or management for any speaker or artist on this site. AAE is a talent booking agency for paid events only. We do not handle requests for donation of time or media requests for interviews, and cannot provide celebrity contact information.

If you are the talent and wish to request a profile update or removal from our online directory, please submit a profile request form.

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