with Patrick McCafferty, focuses on the AD 540 event as recorded in the historical records and myths of Ireland and shows that the imagery in the myths and the times between events are consistent with a comet with an earth-crossing orbit similar to P/Encke, as described by the British astronomers Victor Clube and Bill Napier. His latest book, New Light on the Black Death: The Cosmic Connection (Tempus, 2006), shows how the tree-ring and Greenland ice core evidence and descriptions in annals, myths and metaphors adduced in support of the global environmental downturn at AD 540, which included the Justinian plague, also applies to conditions extant at the time of the Black Death in AD 1348. Controversy over releasing data In 2010, Baillie became involved in a controversy over the release of his tree-ring data. Baillie claims that the tree-ring data is his own personal intellectual property. The UK Information Commissioner's Office, however, ruled that, because Baillie did all the work while employed at a public university, the data must be released to the public. See also Extreme weather events of 535–536 Books Tree-Ring Dating and Archaeology (London: Croom-Helm, 1982). A Slice Through Time: dendrochronology and precision dating (London: Routledge, 1995). The Celtic Gods: Comets in Irish Mythology (Tempus, 2005), co-authored with Patrick McCafferty New Light on the Black Death: The Cosmic Connection (Tempus, 2006) References External links University's staff profile Transcript from NOVA (PBS) based documentary, Secrets of the Dead: Catastrophe! Part 1 Baillie, Mike Dendrologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)