Burns' 1979 paper on "Radiation Forces on Small Particles in the Solar System" remains the second most highly cited of all Icarus papers, with over 700 citations to date. He has also made impressive contributions to the interpretation of ring structure from Voyager, Galileo and Cassini spacecraft observations, elucidating the role of magnetic fields and resonance dynamics.

His impact goes well beyond his exceptional record of scientific achievement. He edited the classic texts, Planetary Satellites (1977), and Satellites (1986), and was editor of Icarus for almost 20 years, overseeing the publication of more than 50,000 pages of the journal.

Burns has mentored many undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, most of whom remain active in the field today. He served as department chair and Vice Provost at Cornell University, held important offices at DDA, DPS, AAS, and IAU, and has been a member of prestigious national panels. Most recently, Burns acted as an unofficial ambassador to the public by organizing Cassini images into impressive exhibits that appeared at the nation's premier museums in New York City and Washington D.C.