Carl Sagan: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox scientist |
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|name = Carl Sagan |
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|image = Carl Sagan Planetary Society.JPG |
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|birth_date = {{birth date|1934|11|9|mf=y}} |
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|birth_place = [[Brooklyn, New York]] |
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|residence = [[United States]]<ref>{{cite book | last = Sagan| first = Carl| authorlink = Carl Sagan| title = Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space| edition = 1st| year=1994| publisher = Random House| location = New York| isbn = 0-679-43841-6| page = 68}}</ref> |
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|nationality = [[United States|American]] |
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|death_date = {{Death date and age|1996|12|20|1934|11|09}} |
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|death_place = [[Seattle]], [[Washington (U.S. state)|Washington]], U.S. |
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|field = [[Astronomy]] and [[planetary science]] |
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|work_institutions = [[Cornell University]]</br>[[Harvard University]] |
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|alma_mater = [[University of Chicago]] |
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|known_for = [[SETI|Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI)]]</br>''[[Cosmos: A Personal Voyage]]''</br>''[[Cosmos (book)|Cosmos]]''</br>[[Voyager Golden Record]]</br>[[Pioneer plaque]]</br>''[[Contact (novel)|Contact]]''</br>''[[Pale Blue Dot (book)|Pale Blue Dot]]'' |
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|prizes = [[Oersted Medal]] (1990)</br>[[NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal]] (twice)</br>[[Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction]] (1978)</br>[[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] [[Public Welfare Medal]] (1994) |
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}} |
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'''Carl Edward Sagan''' (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an [[United States|American]] [[astronomer]], [[Astrophysics|astrophysicist]], [[author]], [[cosmologist]], and highly successful [[popularizer of science|popularizer]] of [[astronomy]], [[astrophysics]] and other [[natural science]]s. During his lifetime, he published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he advocated [[scientific skepticism|skeptical inquiry]] and the [[scientific method]]. He pioneered [[Astrobiology|exobiology]] and promoted the [[SETI|Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI)]]. |
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Sagan became world-famous for his [[popular science]] books and for the award-winning 1980 television series ''[[Cosmos: A Personal Voyage]]'', which he narrated and co-wrote.<ref name =Starchild>{{cite web | url=http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/sagan.html | title=StarChild: Dr. Carl Sagan | publisher=NASA | accessdate=2009-10-08}}</ref> A [[Cosmos (book)|book]] to accompany the program was also published. Sagan also wrote the novel, [[Contact (novel)|''Contact'']], the basis for the 1997 [[Contact (film)|film of the same name]]. He remains a figure of reference for the generation growing up in the late 1970s, early 1980s.<ref> {{citeweb | title = Carl Sagan’s Indigo Children | author = PL Monteiro | url = http://thepatientcapacitor.com/2009/10/carl-sagans-indigo-children/}}</ref> |
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== Education and scientific career == |
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Carl Sagan was born in [[Brooklyn]], [[NY|New York]],<ref name=poundstone>{{cite book | last=Poundstone | first=William | title=Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos | pages=363–364, 374–375 | location=New York | publisher=Henry Holt & Company | year=1999 | isbn=0-805-05766-8}}</ref> to a [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russian Jewish]] family. His father, Sam Sagan, was a Russian immigrant garment worker; his mother, Rachel Molly Gruber, a housewife. Carl was named in honor of Rachel's biological mother, Chaiya Clara, in Sagan's words, "the mother she never knew". Sagan graduated from [[Rahway High School]] in [[Rahway, New Jersey]] in 1951.<ref>{{cite book | last=Davidson | first=Keay | pages=33–41 | title=Carl Sagan: A Life | location= | publisher=John Wiley & Sons | year=1999 | isbn=0-471-25286-7}}</ref> He attended the [[University of Chicago]], where he participated in the Ryerson Astronomical Society,<ref>http://astro.uchicago.edu/RAS/</ref> received an [[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]] with general and special honors (1954), an [[Bachelor of Science|S.B.]] (1955) and an [[Master of Science|S.M.]] (1956) in [[physics]], before earning a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] degree (1960) in [[astronomy]] and [[astrophysics]].<ref>[http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/931111/sagan.shtml Graduate students receive first Sagan teaching awards]</ref> During his time as an undergraduate, Sagan worked in the laboratory of the [[geneticist]] [[Hermann Joseph Muller|H. J. Muller]]. From 1960 to 1962 Sagan was a [[Miller Research Fellows|Miller Fellow]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. From 1962 to 1968, he worked at the [[Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory]] in Cambridge, Massachusetts. |
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Sagan lectured and did research at [[Harvard University]] until 1968, when he moved to [[Cornell University]] in [[New York]]. He became a [[Professor|full Professor]] at Cornell in 1971, and he directed the Laboratory for [[Planetary science|Planetary Studies]] there. From 1972 to 1981, Sagan was the Associate Director of the Center for Radio Physics and Space Research at Cornell. |
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Sagan was associated with the American space program from its inception. From the 1950s onward, he worked as an advisor to [[NASA]], where one of his duties included briefing the [[Apollo program|Apollo]] [[astronaut]]s before their flights to the [[Moon]]. Sagan contributed to many of the [[robotic spacecraft]] missions that explored the [[solar system]], arranging experiments on many of the expeditions. He conceived the idea of adding an unalterable and universal message on spacecraft destined to leave the solar system that could potentially be understood by any [[extraterrestrial intelligence]] that might find it. Sagan assembled the first physical message that was sent into [[outer space|space]]: a [[gold|gold-]][[anodized]] [[Pioneer plaque|plaque]], attached to the space probe [[Pioneer 10]], launched in 1972. [[Pioneer 11]], also carrying another copy of the plaque, was launched the following year. He continued to refine his designs; the most elaborate message he helped to develop and assemble was the [[Voyager Golden Record]] that was sent out with the [[Voyager program|Voyager]] space probes in 1977. Sagan often challenged the decisions to fund the [[Space Shuttle]] and [[Space Station]] at the expense of further robotic missions.<ref>Charlie Rose interview, January 5, 1994</ref> |
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Sagan taught a course on [[critical thinking]] at [[Cornell University]] until he died in 1996 from pneumonia a few weeks after finding that he was in remission of a rare bone marrow disease. |
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== Scientific achievements == |
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Sagan's contributions were central to the discovery of the high surface temperatures of the planet [[Venus]]. In the early 1960s no one knew for certain the basic conditions of that planet's surface, and Sagan listed the possibilities in a report later depicted for popularization in a [[Time-Life]] book, ''[[Planets (book)|Planets]]''. His own view was that Venus was dry and very hot as opposed to the balmy paradise others had imagined. He had investigated radio emissions from Venus and concluded that there was a surface temperature of {{convert|500|°C|-2}}. As a visiting scientist to NASA's [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]], he contributed to the first [[Mariner program|Mariner]] missions to Venus, working on the design and management of the project. [[Mariner 2]] confirmed his conclusions on the surface conditions of Venus in 1962. |
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Sagan was among the first to hypothesize that [[Saturn|Saturn's]] moon [[Titan (moon)|Titan]] might possess oceans of liquid compounds on its surface and that [[Jupiter|Jupiter's]] moon [[Europa (moon)|Europa]] might possess subsurface oceans of water. This would make Europa potentially habitable for life.<ref>Much of Sagan's research in the field of planetary science is outlined by William Poundstone. Poundstone's biography of Sagan includes an 8-page list of Sagan's scientific articles published from 1957 to 1998. Detailed information about Sagan's scientific work comes from the primary research articles. Example: Sagan, C., Thompson, W. R., and Khare, B. N. ''[[Titan: A Laboratory for Prebiological Organic Chemistry]]'', Accounts of Chemical Research, volume 25, page 286 (1992). There is commentary on this research article about Titan at [http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/T/Titanprebiotic.html The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight].</ref> Europa's subsurface ocean of water was later indirectly confirmed by the spacecraft [[Galileo probe|Galileo]]. Sagan also helped solve the mystery of the reddish haze seen on Titan, revealing that it is composed of complex [[organic molecules]] constantly raining down onto the moon's surface. |
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He further contributed insights regarding the atmospheres of Venus and Jupiter as well as seasonal changes on [[Mars]]. Sagan established that the atmosphere of Venus is extremely hot and dense with pressures increasing steadily all the way down to the surface. He also perceived [[global warming]] as a growing, man-made danger and likened it to the natural development of Venus into a hot, life-hostile planet through a kind of runaway [[greenhouse effect]]. Sagan and his Cornell colleague [[Edwin Ernest Salpeter]] speculated about [[Jupiter#Possibility of life|life in Jupiter's clouds]], given the planet's dense atmospheric composition rich in organic molecules. He studied the observed color variations on Mars’ surface and concluded that they were not seasonal or vegetational changes as most believed but shifts in surface dust caused by [[dust storm#on other planets|windstorms]]. |
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Sagan is best known, however, for his research on the possibilities of [[exobiology|extraterrestrial life]], including experimental demonstration of the production of [[amino acid]]s from basic chemicals by [[radiation]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bartelby.com/65/sa/Sagan-Ca.html | title=Sagan, Carl Edward | publisher=Columbia University Press | author=The Columbia Encyclopedia | work=Sixth Edition | accessdate=2007-05-02}}</ref> |
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He is also the 1994 recipient of the [[Public Welfare Medal]], the highest award of the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] for "distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.planetary.org/about/founders/carl_sagan.html | title=Carl Sagan | publisher=The Planetary Society | author=The Planetary Society| accessdate=2007-05-14}}</ref> |
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==Scientific advocacy== |
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[[File:Planetary society.jpg|thumb|left|[[Planetary Society]] members at the organization's founding. Carl Sagan is seated on the right.]] |
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Sagan's ability to convey his ideas allowed many people to better understand the cosmos—simultaneously emphasizing the value and worthiness of the human race, and the relative insignificance of the Earth in comparison to the [[universe]]. He delivered the 1977 series of [[Royal Institution Christmas Lectures]] at the [[Royal Institution]] in [[London]]. He hosted and, with [[Ann Druyan]], co-wrote and co-produced the highly popular thirteen-part [[PBS]] television series ''[[Cosmos: A Personal Voyage]]'' modeled on [[Jacob Bronowski|Jacob Bronowski's]] ''[[The Ascent of Man]]''. |
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Sagan was a proponent of the search for extraterrestrial life. He urged the scientific community to listen with [[radio telescope]]s for signals from intelligent extraterrestrial life-forms. So persuasive was he that by 1982 he was able to get a petition advocating [[SETI]] published in the journal ''Science'' and signed by 70 scientists including seven [[Nobel Prize]] winners. This was a tremendous turnaround in the respectability of this controversial field. Sagan also helped [[Frank Drake|Dr. Frank Drake]] write the [[Arecibo message]], a radio message beamed into space from the [[Arecibo radio telescope]] on November 16, 1974, aimed at informing extraterrestrials about Earth. |
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Sagan was chief technology officer of the professional planetary research journal ''[[Icarus (journal)|Icarus]]'' for twelve years. He co-founded the ''[[Planetary Society]]'', the largest space-interest group in the world, with over 100,000 members in more than 149 countries, and was a member of the [[SETI Institute]] Board of Trustees. Sagan served as Chairman of the Division for Planetary Science of the [[American Astronomical Society]], as President of the Planetology Section of the [[American Geophysical Union]], and as Chairman of the Astronomy Section of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]. |
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At the height of the [[Cold War]], Sagan became involved in public awareness efforts for the effects of [[nuclear warfare|nuclear war]] when a mathematical climate model suggested that a substantial nuclear exchange could upset the delicate balance of life on Earth. He was one of five authors—the "S" of the [[Nuclear_winter#1983|"TTAPS"]] report as the research paper came to be known. He eventually co-authored the scientific paper hypothesizing a global [[nuclear winter]] following nuclear war.<ref>Turco RP, [[Owen Toon|Toon OB]], Ackerman TP, Pollack JB, Sagan C. ''[[Climate and smoke: an appraisal of nuclear winter]],'' [[Science (journal)|Science]], volume 247, pages 166-176 (1990). [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11538069&dopt=Abstract PubMed abstract] [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0036-8075%2819900112%293%3A247%3A4939%3C166%3ACASAAO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V JSTOR] link to full text article. Carl Sagan discussed his involvement in the political nuclear winter debates and his erroneous global cooling prediction for the Gulf War fires in his book, ''[[The Demon-Haunted World]]''.</ref> He also co-authored the book ''A Path Where No Man Thought: Nuclear Winter and the End of the Arms Race'', a comprehensive examination of the phenomenon of nuclear winter. |
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''Cosmos'' covered a wide range of scientific subjects including the [[origin of life]] and a perspective of our place in the [[universe]]. The series was first broadcast by the [[Public Broadcasting Service]] in 1980, winning an [[Emmy Award|Emmy]] and a [[Peabody Award]]. It has been broadcast in more than 60 countries and seen by over 500 million people,<ref name=Starchild/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/pqrst/sagan_carl.html|title=Carl Sagan|publisher=EMuseum@Minnesota State University|accessdate=2009-10-08}}</ref><!-- Retaining two refs here as Wikipedia seems to have incorrectly stated 500 million for years... --> making it the most widely watched [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] program in history.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cosmolearning.com/documentaries/cosmos/|title=CosmoLearning Astronomy|publisher=CosmoLearning|accessdate=2009-10-08}}</ref> |
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Sagan also wrote books to popularize science, such as ''[[Cosmos (book)|Cosmos]]'', which reflected and expanded upon some of the themes of ''A Personal Voyage'', and became the best-selling science book ever published in English;<ref>{{cite web | url=http://science.discovery.com/convergence/cosmos/bio/bio.html?clik=fsmain_feat3 | title=Meet Dr. Carl Sagan | publisher=The Science Channel | accessdate=2007-05-02}}</ref> ''[[The Dragons of Eden|The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence]]'', which won a [[Pulitzer Prize]]; and ''[[Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science]]''. Sagan also wrote the best-selling [[science fiction]] novel [[Contact (novel)|''Contact'']], but did not live to see the book's 1997 [[Contact (film)|motion picture adaptation]], which starred [[Jodie Foster]] and won the 1998 [[Hugo Award]]. |
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[[Image:Pale Blue Dot (uitsnede).png|thumb|left|[[Pale Blue Dot]]: Earth is a bright pixel when photographed from "[[Voyager 1]]" six billion kilometres out (past Pluto). Sagan encouraged NASA to generate this image.]] He wrote a sequel to ''Cosmos,'' [[Pale Blue Dot (book)|''Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space'']], which was selected as a notable book of 1995 by ''[[The New York Times]]''. He appeared on [[PBS|PBS']] [[Charlie Rose]] program in January 1995.<ref>{{cite interview |last=Sagan |first=Carl |subject=Carl Sagan, Astronomer: Author of Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space |interviewer=Charlie Rose |url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1127834163386485385#2370s |format=.SWF |program=Charlie Rose |callsign=PBS |city=New York |date=1995-01-05 |accessdate=2007-04-25}} starts at 00:39:29</ref> Sagan also wrote an introduction for the bestselling book by [[Stephen Hawking]], ''[[A Brief History of Time]]''. Sagan was also known for his popularization of science, his efforts to increase scientific understanding among the general public, and his positions in favor of [[scientific skepticism]] and against [[pseudoscience]], such as his [[Debunker|debunking]] of the [[Betty and Barney Hill abduction]]. To mark the tenth anniversary of Sagan's passing, David Morrison, a former student of Sagan, recalled "Sagan's immense contributions to planetary research, the public understanding of science, and the skeptical movement" in ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]''.<ref>Morrison, David (2007). Man for the Cosmos: Carl Sagan's Life and Legacy as Scientist, Teacher, and Skeptic. ''[http://www.csicop.org/si/2007-01/sagan.html Skeptical Inquirer]'' January/February, '''31'''(1), pp. 29-38.</ref> |
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Sagan hypothesized in January 1991 that enough smoke from the 1991 [[Kuwaiti oil fires]] "might get so high as to disrupt agriculture in much of South Asia…" He later conceded in ''The Demon-Haunted World'' that this prediction did not turn out to be correct: "it ''was'' pitch black at noon and temperatures dropped 4°–6°C over the Persian Gulf, but not much smoke reached stratospheric altitudes and Asia was spared."<ref>{{cite book |author=Sagan, Carl |title=The demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark |publisher=Random House |location=New York |year=1996 |page=257 |isbn=0-394-53512-X }}</ref> A 2007 study noted that modern computer models have been applied to the Kuwait oil fires, finding that individual smoke plumes are not able to loft smoke into the stratosphere, but that smoke from fires covering a large area, like some forest fires or the burning of cities that would be expected to follow a nuclear strike, would loft significant amounts of smoke into the stratosphere.<ref>[http://www.espo.nasa.gov/docs/crystalface/Jost2004.grl.pdf In-situ observations of mid-latitude forest fire plumes deep in the stratosphere]</ref><ref>[http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16641 EO Newsroom: New Images - Smoke Soars to Stratospheric Heights]</ref><ref>[http://www.cpi.com/remsensing/midatm/smoke.html Observations of Boreal Forest Fire Smoke in the Stratosphere]</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fromm |title=Smoke in the Stratosphere: What Wildfires have Taught Us About Nuclear Winter |journal=Eos Trans. AGU |volume=87 |issue=52 Fall Meet. Suppl. |pages=Abstract U14A–04 |year=2006 |doi= |url=http://www.agu.org/cgi-bin/SFgate/SFgate?&listenv=table&multiple=1&range=1&directget=1&application=fm06&database=%2Fdata%2Fepubs%2Fwais%2Findexes%2Ffm06%2Ffm06&maxhits=200&=%22U14A-04%22}}</ref> |
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In his later years Sagan advocated the creation of an organized search for near Earth objects that might impact the Earth.<ref>{{cite book | last = Head | first = Tom | authorlink = Tom Head | title = Conversations With Carl Sagan | publisher = University Press of Mississippi | year = 2006 | pages = 86–87 | isbn = 1-578-06736-7 }}</ref> When others suggested creating large nuclear bombs that could be used to alter the orbit of a NEO that was predicted to hit the Earth, Sagan proposed the Deflection Dilemma: If we create the ability to deflect an asteroid away from the Earth, then we also create the ability to deflect an asteroid towards the Earth—providing an evil power with a true doomsday bomb.<ref>{{cite episode | title = David Morrison - Taking a Hit: Asteroid Impacts & Evolution | series = Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures | url = http://www.astrosociety.org/education/podcast/index.html | airdate = 2007-10-03 | season = 2007-2008}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Sagan | first = Carl | last2 = Ostro | title = Long-Range Consequences of Interplanetary Collisions | journal = Issues in Science and Technology | volume = Vol X | issue = Number 4 | year = 1994}}</ref> |
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===Billions and billions=== |
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[[File:Sagan Viking.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Sagan with a model of the [[Viking Lander]] probes which would land on [[Mars]]. Sagan examined possible landing sites for Viking along with Mike Carr and Hal Masursky.]] |
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From ''Cosmos'' and his frequent appearances on ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]'', Sagan became associated with the [[catch phrase]] "billions and billions". Sagan stated that he never actually used the phrase in the ''Cosmos'' series.<ref name=BandB>{{cite book | last=Sagan | first=Carl | coauthors=p. 3-4 | title=[[Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium|Billions and Billions]] | location=New York | publisher=Ballantine Books | year=1998 | isbn=0-345-37918-7}}</ref> The closest that he ever came was in the book ''Cosmos'', where he talked of "billions ''upon'' billions":<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=The Yale Book of Quotations|article=Carl Sagan|author=Fred R. Shapiro and Joseph Epstein|pages=660|publisher=Yale University Press|date=2006|isbn=0-300-10798-6|isnb13=9780300107982}}</ref> |
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{{bquote|A galaxy is composed of gas and dust and stars—billions upon billions of stars.|||Carl Sagan|''[[Cosmos (book)|Cosmos]]'', chapter 1, page 3<ref>{{cite book|title=[[Cosmos (book)|Cosmos]]|author=Carl Sagan|publisher=Ballantine Books|date=1980|isbn=0-345-33135-4|isbn13=9780345331359}}</ref>}} |
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However, his frequent use of the word ''billions'', and distinctive delivery emphasizing the "b" (which he did intentionally, in place of more cumbersome alternatives such as "billions with a 'b'", in order to distinguish the word from "millions" in viewers' minds),<ref name=BandB /> made him a favorite target of comic performers including [[Johnny Carson]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/carl_sagan_takes_questions|title=Carl Sagan Takes Questions: More From His ‘Wonder and Skepticism’ CSICOP 1994 Keynote|publisher=The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|date=1994-06-26|accessdate=2010-03-25}}</ref> [[Gary Kroeger]], [[Mike Myers (actor)|Mike Myers]],<ref>Myers portrayed Sagan in "SNL: Carl Sagan's Global Warming Christmas Special [VIDEO]"<http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/71374/></ref> [[Bronson Pinchot]], [[Penn Jillette]], [[Harry Shearer]], and others. [[Frank Zappa]] satirized the line in the song "[[Be In My Video]]", noting as well "atomic light". Sagan took this all in good humor, and his final book was entitled ''[[Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium|Billions and Billions]]'' which opened with a tongue-in-cheek discussion of this catch phrase, observing that Carson himself was an amateur astronomer and that Carson's comic caricature often included real science.<ref name=BandB /> |
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The popular perception of his characterization of large cosmic quantities continued to be a sense of wonderment at the vastness of space and time, as in his phrase "The total number of stars in the Universe is larger than all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the planet Earth". However, this famous saying was widely misunderstood, as he was in fact referring to the world being at a "critical branch point in history" as in the following quote from ''[[Cosmos: A Personal Voyage]]'', Episode 8: "Journeys in Space and Time": |
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<blockquote>"Those worlds in space are as countless as all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the earth. Each of those worlds is as real as ours and every one of them is a succession of incidents, events, occurrences which influence its future. Countless worlds, numberless moments, an immensity of space and time. And our small planet at this moment, here we face a critical branch point in history: what we do with our world, right now, will propagate down through the centuries and powerfully affect the destiny of our descendants. It is well within our power to destroy our civilization and perhaps our species as well."</blockquote> |
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==== Sagan units ==== |
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As a humorous tribute to him, a [[Indefinite and fictitious numbers#At-least numbers|''sagan'']] has been defined as a [[unit of measurement]] equal to at least four billion, since the lower bound of a number conforming to the constraint of ''billions and billions'' must be two billion plus two billion.<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sagan sagan] at dictionary.reference.com (definition from the [[Jargon File]])</ref><ref>[[William Safire]], [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9507E3DF143EF934A25757C0A962958260 ON LANGUAGE; Footprints on the Infobahn], ''[[New York Times]]'', April 17, 1994</ref> Assuming one uses the [[Long and short scales|short scale]] definition for [[Billion (word)|billion]], there are nearly 100 sagan (400,000,000,000) stars in the [[Milky Way]] galaxy. |
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=== Apple Computer === |
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In 1994, [[Apple Computer]] began developing the [[Power Macintosh 7100]]. They code-named some computers after astronomers, such as [[Copernicus]], and for the 7100 chose the internal code name "Carl Sagan", a possible inference being that the mid-range PowerMac 7100 should make Apple "billions and billions."<ref name=poundstone/> |
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Though the internal project name was never used in public marketing, it did come up in [[Usenet]] postings and news of the name grew from there. When Sagan learned of this he sued Apple Computer to force the use of a different project name. Other models released conjointly had code names such as "[[Cold fusion]]" and "[[Piltdown Man]]", and Sagan was displeased at being associated with what he considered pseudoscience. (He was at the time writing a book discrediting pseudoscience.)<ref name="CNN">{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,981626,00.html| title=Q: Are Americans Too Litigious?| date=1994-10-17| work=U.S.| publisher=Time Magazine|}}</ref> |
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Though Sagan lost the lawsuit, Apple engineers complied with his demands anyway and renamed the project "''BHA''" (for [[Notable litigation of Apple Computer#Libel dispute with Carl Sagan|Butt-Head Astronomer]]). Sagan promptly sued Apple for [[libel]] over the new name, claiming that it subjected him to contempt and ridicule, but he lost this lawsuit as well. Still, the 7100 saw another name change: it was finally referred to internally as "LAW" (Lawyers Are Wimps).<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.macobserver.com/columns/thisweek/2004/20041120.shtml | title=This Week in Apple History: November 14-20 | publisher=The Mac Observer}}</ref><ref name="V">{{cite journal |last=Baird|first=Lourdes G, Judge| date=1994-06-27| title=Carl Sagan, Plaintiff, v. Apple Computer, Inc., Defendant| journal=1994 U.S. Dist. Lexis 20154 |publisher=United States District Court| location=Central District of California|volume=874 F. Supp. 1072| work=CV 94-2180 LGB (BRx)}}</ref> |
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== Social concerns == |
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Sagan believed that the [[Drake equation]], on substitution of reasonable estimates, suggested that a large number of extraterrestrial civilizations would form, but that the lack of evidence of such civilizations highlighted by the [[Fermi paradox]] suggests [[technological]] civilizations tend to destroy themselves rather quickly. This stimulated his interest in identifying and publicizing ways that humanity could destroy itself, with the hope of avoiding such a [[Doomsday event|cataclysm]] and eventually becoming a [[spacefaring]] species. Sagan's deep concern regarding the potential destruction of [[end of civilization|human civilization]] in a [[nuclear holocaust]] was conveyed in a memorable cinematic sequence in the final episode of [[Cosmos: A Personal Voyage|''Cosmos'']], called "Who Speaks for Earth?" Sagan had already resigned from the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board and voluntarily surrendered his top-security clearance in protest over the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_6_60/ai_78889720/</ref> Following his marriage to his third wife (novelist [[Ann Druyan]]) in June 1981, Sagan became more politically active—particularly in opposing escalation of the [[nuclear arms race]] under President [[Ronald Reagan]]. |
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In March 1983, Reagan announced the [[Strategic Defense Initiative]]—a multi-billion dollar project to develop a comprehensive [[missile defense|defense]] against attack by [[nuclear missiles]], which was quickly dubbed the "Star Wars" program. Sagan spoke out against the project, arguing that it was technically impossible to develop a system with the level of perfection required, and far more expensive to build than for an enemy to defeat through [[decoy]]s and other means—and that its construction would seriously destabilize the nuclear balance between the United States and the [[Soviet Union]], making further progress toward [[nuclear disarmament]] impossible. |
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When Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] declared a unilateral moratorium on the [[nuclear testing|testing of nuclear weapons]], which would begin on August 6, 1985—the 40th anniversary of the [[atomic bomb]]ing of [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|Hiroshima]]—the Reagan administration dismissed the dramatic move as nothing more than [[propaganda]], and refused to follow suit. In response, American [[anti-nuclear]] and peace [[activists]] staged a series of protest actions at the [[Nevada Test Site]], beginning on [[Easter Sunday]] in 1986 and continuing through 1987. Hundreds of people were arrested, including Sagan, who was arrested on two separate occasions as he climbed over a chain-link fence at the test site. |
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== Personal life and beliefs == |
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Sagan married three times: in 1957, to biologist [[Lynn Margulis]], mother of [[Dorion Sagan]] and [[Jeremy Sagan]]; in 1968, to artist [[Linda Salzman Sagan|Linda Salzman]], mother of [[Nick Sagan]]; and in 1981, to author [[Ann Druyan]], mother of Alexandra Rachel (Sasha) Sagan and Samuel Democritus Sagan. His marriage to Druyan continued until his death in 1996. |
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[[Isaac Asimov]] described Sagan as one of only two people he ever met whose intellect surpassed his own. The other, he claimed, was the [[Computer science|computer scientist]] and [[artificial intelligence]] expert [[Marvin Minsky]].<ref>{{cite book |
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|title=In Joy Still Felt: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1954-1978 |author=Asimov, Isaac |pages =217, 302 |publisher=Doubleday/Avon |year=1980 |isbn= 0-380-53025-2}}</ref> |
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Sagan wrote frequently about [[religion]] and the relationship between religion and science, expressing his skepticism about the conventional conceptualization of [[God]] as a sapient being. For example: |
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<blockquote>Some people think God is an outsized, light-skinned male with a long white beard, sitting on a throne somewhere up there in the sky, busily tallying the fall of every sparrow. Others—for example [[Baruch Spinoza]] and [[Albert Einstein]]—considered God to be essentially the sum total of the physical laws which describe the universe. I do not know of any compelling evidence for anthropomorphic patriarchs controlling human destiny from some hidden celestial vantage point, but it would be madness to deny the existence of physical laws.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sagan|first=Carl|authorlink=Carl Sagan|title=Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science|chapter=Chapter 23|page=330|publisher=Ballantine Books|date=1986-02-12|isbn=0345336895}}</ref></blockquote> |
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Sagan, however, denied that he was an atheist: "An atheist has to know a lot more than I know."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041801870.html|author=Achenbach, Joel|title=Worlds Away|work=Washington Post|page=W15|date=2006-04-23}}</ref> In reply to a question in 1996 about his religious beliefs, Sagan answered, "I'm agnostic."<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Head, Tom|title=Conversations with Carl|journal=Skeptic|volume=13|number=1|pages=32–38}}Excerpted in {{Cite book|author=Head, Tom, ed.|year=2006|Conversations with Carl Sagan|publisher=University of Mississippi Press|ISBN=1-57806-736-7.}}</ref> Sagan maintained that the idea of a creator of the universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could challenge it would be an infinitely old universe.<ref>{{cite book|title=[[The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark]]|page=278|last=Sagan|first=Carl|year=1996|publisher=Ballantine Books|location=New York |isbn=0-345-40946-9}}</ref> |
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In 2006, Ann Druyan edited Sagan's 1985 Glasgow ''[[Gifford Lectures]] in Natural Theology'' into a book, ''[[The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God]]'', in which he elaborates on his views of divinity in the [[nature|natural world]]. |
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Sagan is also widely regarded as a freethinker or skeptic; one of his most famous quotations, in ''Cosmos'', was, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."<ref> |
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{{cite episode |title= Encyclopaedia Galactica |series= Cosmos |credits= Carl Sagan (writer/host) |network= PBS |airdate= 1980-12-14 |number= 12 |minutes= 01:24}}</ref> This was based on a nearly identical statement by fellow founder of the [[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal]] founder [[Marcello Truzzi]], "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/anomalistics/practices.htm|title=On Some Unfair Practices towards Claims of the Paranormal|work=Oxymoron: Annual Thematic Anthology of the Arts and Sciences, Vol.2: The Fringe|publisher=Oxymoron Media|author=Truzzi, Marcello|year=1998|accessdate=2007-05-02}}</ref> This idea originated with [[Pierre-Simon Laplace]] (1749-1827), a [[France|French]] [[mathematician]] and astronomer who said, "The weight of evidence for an extraordinary claim must be proportioned to its strangeness."<ref>[http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=497783&format=print A sense of place in the heartland], The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online</ref> |
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Late in his life, Sagan's books elaborated on his skeptical, [[naturalism (philosophy)|naturalistic]] view of the world. In ''[[The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark]]'', he presented tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent ones, essentially advocating wide use of critical thinking and the [[scientific method]]. The compilation ''[[Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium]]'', published in 1997 after Sagan's death, contains essays written by Sagan, such as his views on [[abortion]], and his widow Ann Druyan's account of his death as a [[skepticism|skeptic]], [[agnosticism|agnostic]], and [[freethought|freethinker]]. |
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Sagan warned against humans' tendency towards [[anthropocentrism]]. He was the faculty adviser for the Cornell Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In the ''Cosmos'' chapter "Blues For a Red Planet", Sagan wrote, "If there is life on Mars, I believe we should do nothing with Mars. Mars then belongs to the Martians, even if the Martians are only microbes."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sagan|first=Carl|authorlink=Carl Sagan|title=Cosmos|page=108|publisher=Ballantine Books|date=1985-10-12|isbn=0345331354}}</ref> |
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Sagan was a user of [[cannabis (drug)|marijuana]]. Under the [[pseudonym]] "Mr. X", he contributed an essay about smoking cannabis to the 1971 book ''Marihuana Reconsidered''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Grinspoon|first=Lester|authorlink=Lester Grinspoon|edition=2nd|title=Marihuana Reconsidered|location=Oakland, CA|publisher=Quick American Archives |year=1994|isbn=0-932-55113-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Mr. X|url=http://marijuana-uses.com/mr-x/|publisher=Marijuana-Uses.com|author=Sagan, Carl|accessdate=2009-08-07}}</ref><!-- NOTE: The book's title spells 'Marihuana' with an 'h' --> The essay explained that marijuana use had helped to inspire some of Sagan's works and enhance sensual and intellectual experiences. After Sagan's death, his friend [[Lester Grinspoon]] disclosed this information to Sagan's biographer, Keay Davidson. The publishing of the biography, ''Carl Sagan: A Life'', in 1999 brought media attention to this aspect of Sagan's life.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/475954.stm|title=Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos|work=BBC News|author=Whitehouse, David|date=1999-10-15|accessdate=2007-05-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.druglibrary.org/think/~jnr/sagan.htm|title=US: Billions and Billions of '60s Flashbacks|work=San Francisco Examiner|author=Davidson, Keay|date=1999-08-22|accessdate=2007-05-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://cannabisculture.com/articles/63.html|title=Carl Sagan: Toking Astronomer |work=Cannabis Culture Magazine|author=Larsen, Dana|date=1999-11-01|accessdate=2007-05-02}}</ref> |
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In 1966, Sagan was asked to contribute an interview about the possibility of extraterrestrials to a proposed introduction to the film ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]''. Sagan reportedly asked for control and a percentage of the film's box office receipts in return; these terms were rejected.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://arts.independent.co.uk/film/news/article321643.ece|title=2001: The Secrets of Kubrick's Classic|work=The Independent |author=Anthony Barnes |date=2005-10-23 |accessdate=2009-08-07 | location=London}}</ref> |
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== Sagan and UFOs == |
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Sagan had some interest in [[UFO]] reports from at least 1964 when he had several conversations on the subject with [[Jacques Vallee]].<ref name=westrum>{{cite book | last=Westrum | first=Ron | coauthors=Jacobs, David Michael (ed.) | chapter=Limited Access: Six Natural Scientists and the UFO Phenomenon | pages=30–55 | title=UFOs and abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge | location=Lawrence, Kansas | publisher=University Press of Kansas | year=2000 | isbn=0-700-61032-4 }}</ref> Though quite skeptical of any extraordinary answer to the UFO question, Sagan thought scientists should study the phenomenon, at least because there was widespread public interest in UFO reports. |
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[[Stuart Appelle]] notes that Sagan "wrote frequently on what he perceived as the [[logic]]al and [[empiricism|empirical]] [[fallacy|fallacies]] regarding UFOs and the [[abduction phenomenon|abduction experience]]. Sagan rejected an [[extraterrestrial hypothesis|extraterrestrial explanation]] for the phenomenon but felt there were both empirical and [[pedagogy|pedagogical]] benefits for examining UFO reports and that the subject was, therefore, a legitimate topic of study."<ref>{{cite book | last=Appelle | first=Stuart | coauthors=Jacobs, David Michael (ed.) | chapter=Ufology and Academia: The UFO Phenomenon as a Scholarly Discipline | pages=7–30 | title=UFOs and abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge | location=Lawrence, Kansas | publisher=University Press of Kansas | year=2000 | isbn=0-700-61032-4}}</ref> |
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In 1966, Sagan was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee to Review [[Project Blue Book]], the U.S. Air Force's UFO investigation project. The committee concluded Blue Book had been lacking as a scientific study, and recommended a university-based project to give the UFO phenomenon closer scientific scrutiny. The result was the [[Condon Committee]] (1966–1968), led by physicist [[Edward Condon]], and in their final report they formally concluded that UFOs, regardless of what any of them actually were, did not behave in a manner consistent with a threat to national security. |
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[[Ron Westrum]] writes that "The high point of Sagan's treatment of the UFO question was the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science|AAAS's]] symposium in 1969. A wide range of educated opinions on the subject were offered by participants, including not only proponents such as [[James E. McDonald|James McDonald]] and [[J. Allen Hynek]] but also skeptics like astronomers [[William Kenneth Hartmann|William Hartmann]] and [[Donald Menzel]]. The roster of speakers was balanced, and it is to Sagan's credit that this event was presented in spite of pressure from [[Edward Condon]]".<ref name=westrum/> With physicist [[Thornton Page]], Sagan edited the lectures and discussions given at the symposium; these were published in 1972 as ''UFOs: A Scientific Debate''. Some of Sagan's many books examine UFOs (as did one episode of ''Cosmos'') and he claimed a religious undercurrent to the phenomenon. |
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Sagan again revealed his views on interstellar travel in his 1980 ''Cosmos'' series. In one of his last written works, Sagan argued that the chances of extraterrestrial spacecraft visiting Earth are vanishingly small. However, Sagan did think it plausible that [[Cold War]] concerns contributed to governments misleading their citizens about UFOs, and that "some UFO reports and analyses, and perhaps voluminous files, have been made inaccessible to the public which pays the bills ... It's time for the files to be declassified and made generally available." He cautioned against jumping to conclusions about suppressed UFO data and stressed that there was no strong evidence that aliens were visiting the Earth either in the past or present.<ref>Sagan, 1996: 81-96, 99-104</ref> |
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==Death== |
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[[File:Carl-sagan-brooklyn.JPG|thumb|right|300px|Stone dedicated to Carl Sagan in the Celebrity Path of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden]] |
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After a long and difficult fight with [[Myelodysplastic syndrome|myelodysplasia]], which included three [[Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation|bone marrow transplants]], Sagan died of [[pneumonia]] at the age of 62 at the [[Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center]] in [[Seattle, Washington]], on December 20, 1996.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9612/20/sagan/ | work=CNN | title=Carl Sagan dies at 62 | accessdate=2010-04-28}}</ref> He was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in [[Ithaca, New York]]. |
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==Posthumous recognition== |
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The 1997 movie ''[[Contact (film)|Contact]]'', based on Sagan's [[Contact (novel)|novel of the same name]] and finished after his death, ends with the dedication "For Carl". |
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In 1997, the Sagan Planet Walk was opened in Ithaca New York. It is a walking scale model of the solar system, extending 1.2 km from the center of The Commons in downtown Ithaca, NY, to the Sciencenter, a hands-on museum. The exhibition was created in memory Carl Sagan, who was an Ithaca resident and Cornell Professor. Professor Sagan had been a founding member of the museum's advisory board.<ref>http://www.sciencenter.org/saganpw/</ref> |
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After landing, the unmanned [[Mars Pathfinder]] spacecraft was renamed the ''[[Mars Pathfinder#End of the mission|Carl Sagan Memorial Station]]'' on July 5, 1997. |
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Sagan's son, [[Nick Sagan]], wrote several episodes in the ''[[Star Trek]]'' franchise. In an episode of ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' entitled "[[Terra Prime]]", a quick shot is shown of the relic rover [[Mars Pathfinder|Sojourner]], part of the Mars Pathfinder mission, placed by a historical marker at Carl Sagan Memorial Station on the Martian surface. The marker displays a quote from Sagan: "Whatever the reason you're on Mars, I'm glad you're there, and I wish I was with you." Sagan's student [[Steve Squyres]] led the team that landed the [[Spirit Rover]] and [[Opportunity Rover]] successfully on Mars in 2004. |
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Asteroid [[2709 Sagan]] is also named in his honor. |
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On November 9, 2001, on what would have been Sagan's 67th birthday, the [[NASA Ames Research Center]] dedicated the site for the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Cosmos. "Carl was an incredible visionary, and now his legacy can be preserved and advanced by a 21st century research and education laboratory committed to enhancing our understanding of life in the universe and furthering the cause of space exploration for all time", said NASA Administrator [[Daniel Goldin]]. Ann Druyan was at the Center as it opened its doors on October 22, 2006. |
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Sagan has at least three awards named in his honor: |
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* The [[Carl Sagan Memorial Award]] presented jointly since 1997 by the [[American Astronautical Society|American Astronautical Society (AAS)]] and the [[Planetary Society]], |
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* The [[Carl Sagan Medal]] for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science presented since 1998 by the American Astronomical Society's [[Division for Planetary Sciences]] (AAS/DPS) for outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist to the general public — Carl Sagan was one of the original organizing committee members of the DPS, and |
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* The [[Carl Sagan Award for Public Understanding of Science]] presented by the [[Council of Scientific Society Presidents]] (CSSP) — Sagan himself was the first recipient of the CSSP award in 1993.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://cssp.us/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=47 | title=Sagan Award for Public Understanding of Science | publisher=The Council of Scientific Society Presidents | accessdate=2007-05-02}}</ref> |
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In 2006, the Carl Sagan Medal was awarded to astrobiologist and author [[David Grinspoon]], the son of Sagan's friend [[Lester Grinspoon]]. |
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On December 20, 2006, the tenth anniversary of Sagan's death, a blogger, Joel Schlosberg, organized a Carl Sagan "blog-a-thon" to commemorate Sagan's death, and the idea was supported by Nick Sagan.<ref>[http://joelschlosberg.blogspot.com/2006/11/announcing-carl-sagan-memorial-blog.html Joel's humanistic blog: Announcing the Carl Sagan memorial blog-a-thon<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Many members of the blogging community participated. |
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In 2008, [[Benn Jordan]], also known as "The Flashbulb", released the album ''[[Pale Blue Dot (album)|Pale Blue Dot: A Tribute to Carl Sagan]]''. |
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In 2009, clips from Carl Sagan's ''Cosmos'' were used as the basis for ''A Glorious Dawn'', the first video produced for the [[Symphony of Science]], an educational music video production by composer John Boswell. Musician [[Jack White (musician)|Jack White]] later released this song as a vinyl single under his record label [[Third Man Records]].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2009/11/jack_white_carl_sagans_biggest.html | title=Jack White: Carl Sagan's Biggest Fan | publisher=The Washington Post | accessdate=2009-11-11}}</ref> Additional clips were used in several followup videos which featured Sagan alongside other noted scientists and proponents of rational thinking, such as [[Richard Dawkins]], [[Richard Feynman]], [[Brian Greene]], [[Lawrence M. Krauss]], [[Bill Nye]], and [[Neil deGrasse Tyson]]. So far, Sagan is the only scientist featured in every Symphony of Science video. |
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Also in 2009, the 75th anniversary of Carl Sagan's birth, the first "Carl Sagan Day" was celebrated on November 7.<ref> http://www.carlsaganday.com/</ref> |
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==Awards and honors== |
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[[File:NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal.jpeg|frame|right|NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal]] |
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* Annual Award for Television Excellence - 1981 - [[Ohio State University]] - PBS series ''[[Cosmos: A Personal Voyage|Cosmos]]'' |
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* [[Apollo program|Apollo]] Achievement Award - [[NASA|National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] |
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* [[NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal]] - National Aeronautics and Space Administration (twice) |
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* [[Emmy]] - Outstanding Individual Achievement - 1981 - PBS series ''Cosmos'' |
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* Emmy - [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series|Outstanding Informational Series]] - 1981 - PBS series ''Cosmos'' |
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* [[NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal|Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal]] - National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
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* [[Helen Caldicott]] Leadership Award - Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament |
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* [[Hugo Award]] - 1981 - ''Cosmos'' |
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* [[American Humanist Association#AHA's Humanists of the Year|Humanist of the Year]] - 1981 - Awarded by the [[American Humanist Association]] |
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* In Praise of Reason Award - 1987 - [[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal]] |
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* [[Isaac Asimov Award]] - 1994 - [[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal]] |
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* [[John F. Kennedy]] [[Astronautics]] Award - [[American Astronautical Society]] |
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* [[John W. Campbell Memorial Award]] - 1974 - ''[[Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective]]'' |
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* [[Joseph Priestley|Joseph Priestley Award]] - "For distinguished contributions to the welfare of mankind" |
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* [[Klumpke-Roberts Award]] of the [[Astronomical Society of the Pacific]] - 1974 |
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* [[Konstantin Tsiolkovsky]] Medal - Awarded by the Soviet Cosmonauts Federation |
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* [[Locus Award]] 1986 - ''Contact'' |
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* [[Lowell Thomas]] Award - [[Explorers Club]] - 75th Anniversary |
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* [[Masursky Award]] - [[American Astronomical Society]] |
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* [[Miller Research Fellows]]hip - [[Miller Institute]] (1960–1962) |
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* [[New Jersey Hall of Fame]] - 2009 inductee <ref>[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090202/ap_en_mu/people_nj_hall_of_fame;_ylt=AlZVKwTMpyR6gahss6B1PmtxFb8C New Jersey to Bon Jovi: You Give Us a Good Name] Yahoo News, February 2, 2009</ref> |
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* [[Oersted Medal]] - 1990 - [[American Association of Physics Teachers]] |
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* [[Peabody Award]] - 1980 - PBS series ''Cosmos'' |
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* [[Prix Galbert]] - The international prize of [[Astronautics]] |
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* [[Public Welfare Medal]] - 1994 - [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] |
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* [[Pulitzer Prize|Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction]] - 1978 - ''[[The Dragons of Eden]]'' |
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* [[The San Francisco Chronicle#Awards given by the Chronicle|SF Chronicle Award]] - 1998 - ''[[Contact (novel)|Contact]]'' |
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* Named the "[[Greatest American|99th Greatest American]]" on the June 5, 2005, ''Greatest American'' show on the [[Discovery Channel]] |
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==Publications== |
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* ''Planets'' ([[LIFE Science Library]]), Sagan, Carl, Jonathon Norton Leonard and editors of Life, Time, Inc., 1966 |
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* ''Intelligent Life in the Universe'', [[Iosif Samuilovich Shklovskii|I.S. Shklovskii]] coauthor, Random House, 1966, 509 pgs |
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* ''UFO's: A Scientific Debate'', Thornton Page coauthor, Cornell University Press, 1972, 310 pgs |
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* ''[[Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence]]''. MIT Press, 1973, 428 pgs |
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* ''Mars and the Mind of Man'', Sagan, Carl, et al., Harper & Row, 1973, 143 pgs |
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* ''[[Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective]]'', Jerome Agel coauthor, Anchor Press, 1973, ISBN 0-521-78303-8, 301 pgs |
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* ''Other Worlds''. Bantam Books, 1975 |
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* ''Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record'', Sagan, Carl, et al., Random House, ISBN 0-394-41047-5, 1978 |
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* ''[[The Dragons of Eden|The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence]]''. Ballantine Books, 1978, ISBN 0-345-34629-7, 288 pgs |
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* ''[[Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science]]''. Ballantine Books, 1979, ISBN 0-345-33689-5, 416 pgs |
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* ''[[Cosmos (book)|Cosmos]]''. Random house, 1980. Random House New Edition, May 7, 2002, ISBN 0-375-50832-5, 384 pgs |
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* ''[[The Cold and the Dark: The World after Nuclear War]]'', Sagan, Carl et al., Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985 |
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* ''[[Comet (book)|Comet]]'', [[Ann Druyan]] coauthor, Ballantine Books, 1985, ISBN 0-345-41222-2, 496 pgs |
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* ''[[Contact (novel)|Contact]]''. Simon and Schuster, 1985; Reissued August 1997 by Doubleday Books, ISBN 1-56865-424-3, 352 pgs |
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* ''A Path Where No Man Thought: Nuclear Winter and the End of the Arms Race'', Richard Turco coauthor, Random House, 1990, ISBN 0-394-58307-8, 499 pgs |
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* ''[[Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (book)|Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are]]'', [[Ann Druyan]] coauthor, Ballantine Books, October 1993, ISBN 0-345-38472-5, 528 pgs |
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* ''[[Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space]]''. Random House, November 1994, ISBN 0-679-43841-6, 429 pgs |
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* ''[[The Demon-Haunted World|The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark]]''. Ballantine Books, March 1996, ISBN 0-345-40946-9, 480 pgs (note: the book was first published and copyrighted in 1995 with an errata slip inserted) |
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* ''[[Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium]]'', [[Ann Druyan]] coauthor, Ballantine Books, June 1997, ISBN 0-345-37918-7, 320 pgs |
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* ''The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God'', Carl Sagan (writer) & Ann Druyan (editor), 1985 [[Gifford lectures]], Penguin Press HC, November 2006, ISBN 1-59420-107-2, 304 pgs |
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==References== |
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{{Reflist|2}} |
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==Further reading== |
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* {{cite book | title=Carl Sagan: A Life | last=Davidson | first=Keay | pages=33–41 | location=New York | publisher=John Wiley & Sons | year=1999 | isbn=0471252867}} |
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*{{cite book | title=Conversations with Carl Sagan | last=Head | first=Tom (ed.) | coauthors= | location=Jackson, Mississippi | publisher=University Press of Mississippi | year=2005 | isbn=1578067367}} |
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* {{cite book | title=Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos | last=Poundstone | first=William | location=New York | publisher=Henry Holt & Company | year=1999 | isbn=0805057668}} |
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* {{cite journal|last=Morrison |first=David |year=2006 |title=Carl Sagan: The People's Astronomer |work=AmeriQuests |volume=3 |issue=2 |url=http://ejournals.library.vanderbilt.edu/ameriquests/include/getdoc.php?id=402&article=93&mode=pdf |format=PDF}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Achenbach |first=Joel |year=1999 |title=Captured by Aliens: the search for life and truth in a very large universe |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-684-84856-2 |laysummary=Includes detailed account of Sagan's role in the search for extraterrestrial life.}} |
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==External links== |
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{{sisterlinks|b=no|k=no|v=no|n=no|wikt=no}} |
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*[http://www.carlsagan.com/ The Carl Sagan Portal] |
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* {{imdb name|id=0755981|name=Carl Sagan}} |
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*{{worldcat id|id=lccn-n79-64998}} |
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*{{findagrave|1347}} |
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* [http://www.wonderfest.org/html/sagan_prize_info.html Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization] |
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* [http://dps.aas.org/prizes/sagan Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science], presented by the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences (AAS/DPS) |
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*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JfYbl1cM0g Video of skit] from ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]'' mentioning "billions and billions" |
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* [http://graduationwisdom.com/speeches/v0040-3-sagan.html Inspirational speech by Carl Sagan 1996] |
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{{Normdaten|PND=115873937|LCCN=n/79/64998|VIAF=36997809}} |
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{{Carl Sagan}} |
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<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] --> |
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{{Persondata |
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|NAME= Sagan, Carl |
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|ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Sagan, Carl Edward |
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|SHORT DESCRIPTION= [[Astronomy]] and [[planetary science]] |
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|DATE OF BIRTH= {{birth date|1934|11|9|mf=y}} |
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|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Brooklyn, New York|Brooklyn]], [[NY|New York]] |
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|DATE OF DEATH= {{death date|1996|12|20|mf=y}} |
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|PLACE OF DEATH= [[Seattle]], [[Washington (U.S. state)|Washington]] |
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}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sagan, Carl}} |
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Revision as of 03:30, 12 May 2010
Carl Sagan | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | December 20, 1996 Seattle, Washington, U.S. | (aged 62)
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | University of Chicago |
Known for | Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Cosmos: A Personal Voyage Cosmos Voyager Golden Record Pioneer plaque Contact Pale Blue Dot |
Awards | Oersted Medal (1990) NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (twice) Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction (1978) National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal (1994) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astronomy and planetary science |
Institutions | Cornell University Harvard University |
Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, author, cosmologist, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. During his lifetime, he published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he advocated skeptical inquiry and the scientific method. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
Sagan became world-famous for his popular science books and for the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which he narrated and co-wrote.[2] A book to accompany the program was also published. Sagan also wrote the novel, Contact, the basis for the 1997 film of the same name. He remains a figure of reference for the generation growing up in the late 1970s, early 1980s.[3]
Education and scientific career
Carl Sagan was born in Brooklyn, New York,[4] to a Russian Jewish family. His father, Sam Sagan, was a Russian immigrant garment worker; his mother, Rachel Molly Gruber, a housewife. Carl was named in honor of Rachel's biological mother, Chaiya Clara, in Sagan's words, "the mother she never knew". Sagan graduated from Rahway High School in Rahway, New Jersey in 1951.[5] He attended the University of Chicago, where he participated in the Ryerson Astronomical Society,[6] received an A.B. with general and special honors (1954), an S.B. (1955) and an S.M. (1956) in physics, before earning a Ph.D. degree (1960) in astronomy and astrophysics.[7] During his time as an undergraduate, Sagan worked in the laboratory of the geneticist H. J. Muller. From 1960 to 1962 Sagan was a Miller Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1962 to 1968, he worked at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Sagan lectured and did research at Harvard University until 1968, when he moved to Cornell University in New York. He became a full Professor at Cornell in 1971, and he directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies there. From 1972 to 1981, Sagan was the Associate Director of the Center for Radio Physics and Space Research at Cornell.
Sagan was associated with the American space program from its inception. From the 1950s onward, he worked as an advisor to NASA, where one of his duties included briefing the Apollo astronauts before their flights to the Moon. Sagan contributed to many of the robotic spacecraft missions that explored the solar system, arranging experiments on many of the expeditions. He conceived the idea of adding an unalterable and universal message on spacecraft destined to leave the solar system that could potentially be understood by any extraterrestrial intelligence that might find it. Sagan assembled the first physical message that was sent into space: a gold-anodized plaque, attached to the space probe Pioneer 10, launched in 1972. Pioneer 11, also carrying another copy of the plaque, was launched the following year. He continued to refine his designs; the most elaborate message he helped to develop and assemble was the Voyager Golden Record that was sent out with the Voyager space probes in 1977. Sagan often challenged the decisions to fund the Space Shuttle and Space Station at the expense of further robotic missions.[8]
Sagan taught a course on critical thinking at Cornell University until he died in 1996 from pneumonia a few weeks after finding that he was in remission of a rare bone marrow disease.
Scientific achievements
Sagan's contributions were central to the discovery of the high surface temperatures of the planet Venus. In the early 1960s no one knew for certain the basic conditions of that planet's surface, and Sagan listed the possibilities in a report later depicted for popularization in a Time-Life book, Planets. His own view was that Venus was dry and very hot as opposed to the balmy paradise others had imagined. He had investigated radio emissions from Venus and concluded that there was a surface temperature of 500 °C (900 °F). As a visiting scientist to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he contributed to the first Mariner missions to Venus, working on the design and management of the project. Mariner 2 confirmed his conclusions on the surface conditions of Venus in 1962.
Sagan was among the first to hypothesize that Saturn's moon Titan might possess oceans of liquid compounds on its surface and that Jupiter's moon Europa might possess subsurface oceans of water. This would make Europa potentially habitable for life.[9] Europa's subsurface ocean of water was later indirectly confirmed by the spacecraft Galileo. Sagan also helped solve the mystery of the reddish haze seen on Titan, revealing that it is composed of complex organic molecules constantly raining down onto the moon's surface.
He further contributed insights regarding the atmospheres of Venus and Jupiter as well as seasonal changes on Mars. Sagan established that the atmosphere of Venus is extremely hot and dense with pressures increasing steadily all the way down to the surface. He also perceived global warming as a growing, man-made danger and likened it to the natural development of Venus into a hot, life-hostile planet through a kind of runaway greenhouse effect. Sagan and his Cornell colleague Edwin Ernest Salpeter speculated about life in Jupiter's clouds, given the planet's dense atmospheric composition rich in organic molecules. He studied the observed color variations on Mars’ surface and concluded that they were not seasonal or vegetational changes as most believed but shifts in surface dust caused by windstorms.
Sagan is best known, however, for his research on the possibilities of extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by radiation.[10]
He is also the 1994 recipient of the Public Welfare Medal, the highest award of the National Academy of Sciences for "distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare."[11]
Scientific advocacy
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Planetary_society.jpg/220px-Planetary_society.jpg)
Sagan's ability to convey his ideas allowed many people to better understand the cosmos—simultaneously emphasizing the value and worthiness of the human race, and the relative insignificance of the Earth in comparison to the universe. He delivered the 1977 series of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures at the Royal Institution in London. He hosted and, with Ann Druyan, co-wrote and co-produced the highly popular thirteen-part PBS television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage modeled on Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man.
Sagan was a proponent of the search for extraterrestrial life. He urged the scientific community to listen with radio telescopes for signals from intelligent extraterrestrial life-forms. So persuasive was he that by 1982 he was able to get a petition advocating SETI published in the journal Science and signed by 70 scientists including seven Nobel Prize winners. This was a tremendous turnaround in the respectability of this controversial field. Sagan also helped Dr. Frank Drake write the Arecibo message, a radio message beamed into space from the Arecibo radio telescope on November 16, 1974, aimed at informing extraterrestrials about Earth.
Sagan was chief technology officer of the professional planetary research journal Icarus for twelve years. He co-founded the Planetary Society, the largest space-interest group in the world, with over 100,000 members in more than 149 countries, and was a member of the SETI Institute Board of Trustees. Sagan served as Chairman of the Division for Planetary Science of the American Astronomical Society, as President of the Planetology Section of the American Geophysical Union, and as Chairman of the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
At the height of the Cold War, Sagan became involved in public awareness efforts for the effects of nuclear war when a mathematical climate model suggested that a substantial nuclear exchange could upset the delicate balance of life on Earth. He was one of five authors—the "S" of the "TTAPS" report as the research paper came to be known. He eventually co-authored the scientific paper hypothesizing a global nuclear winter following nuclear war.[12] He also co-authored the book A Path Where No Man Thought: Nuclear Winter and the End of the Arms Race, a comprehensive examination of the phenomenon of nuclear winter.
Cosmos covered a wide range of scientific subjects including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe. The series was first broadcast by the Public Broadcasting Service in 1980, winning an Emmy and a Peabody Award. It has been broadcast in more than 60 countries and seen by over 500 million people,[2][13] making it the most widely watched PBS program in history.[14]
Sagan also wrote books to popularize science, such as Cosmos, which reflected and expanded upon some of the themes of A Personal Voyage, and became the best-selling science book ever published in English;[15] The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence, which won a Pulitzer Prize; and Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science. Sagan also wrote the best-selling science fiction novel Contact, but did not live to see the book's 1997 motion picture adaptation, which starred Jodie Foster and won the 1998 Hugo Award.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Pale_Blue_Dot_%28uitsnede%29.png)
He wrote a sequel to Cosmos, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, which was selected as a notable book of 1995 by The New York Times. He appeared on PBS' Charlie Rose program in January 1995.[16] Sagan also wrote an introduction for the bestselling book by Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time. Sagan was also known for his popularization of science, his efforts to increase scientific understanding among the general public, and his positions in favor of scientific skepticism and against pseudoscience, such as his debunking of the Betty and Barney Hill abduction. To mark the tenth anniversary of Sagan's passing, David Morrison, a former student of Sagan, recalled "Sagan's immense contributions to planetary research, the public understanding of science, and the skeptical movement" in Skeptical Inquirer.[17]
Sagan hypothesized in January 1991 that enough smoke from the 1991 Kuwaiti oil fires "might get so high as to disrupt agriculture in much of South Asia…" He later conceded in The Demon-Haunted World that this prediction did not turn out to be correct: "it was pitch black at noon and temperatures dropped 4°–6°C over the Persian Gulf, but not much smoke reached stratospheric altitudes and Asia was spared."[18] A 2007 study noted that modern computer models have been applied to the Kuwait oil fires, finding that individual smoke plumes are not able to loft smoke into the stratosphere, but that smoke from fires covering a large area, like some forest fires or the burning of cities that would be expected to follow a nuclear strike, would loft significant amounts of smoke into the stratosphere.[19][20][21][22]
In his later years Sagan advocated the creation of an organized search for near Earth objects that might impact the Earth.[23] When others suggested creating large nuclear bombs that could be used to alter the orbit of a NEO that was predicted to hit the Earth, Sagan proposed the Deflection Dilemma: If we create the ability to deflect an asteroid away from the Earth, then we also create the ability to deflect an asteroid towards the Earth—providing an evil power with a true doomsday bomb.[24][25]
Billions and billions
From Cosmos and his frequent appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Sagan became associated with the catch phrase "billions and billions". Sagan stated that he never actually used the phrase in the Cosmos series.[26] The closest that he ever came was in the book Cosmos, where he talked of "billions upon billions":[27]
A galaxy is composed of gas and dust and stars—billions upon billions of stars.
However, his frequent use of the word billions, and distinctive delivery emphasizing the "b" (which he did intentionally, in place of more cumbersome alternatives such as "billions with a 'b'", in order to distinguish the word from "millions" in viewers' minds),[26] made him a favorite target of comic performers including Johnny Carson,[29] Gary Kroeger, Mike Myers,[30] Bronson Pinchot, Penn Jillette, Harry Shearer, and others. Frank Zappa satirized the line in the song "Be In My Video", noting as well "atomic light". Sagan took this all in good humor, and his final book was entitled Billions and Billions which opened with a tongue-in-cheek discussion of this catch phrase, observing that Carson himself was an amateur astronomer and that Carson's comic caricature often included real science.[26]
The popular perception of his characterization of large cosmic quantities continued to be a sense of wonderment at the vastness of space and time, as in his phrase "The total number of stars in the Universe is larger than all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the planet Earth". However, this famous saying was widely misunderstood, as he was in fact referring to the world being at a "critical branch point in history" as in the following quote from Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, Episode 8: "Journeys in Space and Time":
"Those worlds in space are as countless as all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the earth. Each of those worlds is as real as ours and every one of them is a succession of incidents, events, occurrences which influence its future. Countless worlds, numberless moments, an immensity of space and time. And our small planet at this moment, here we face a critical branch point in history: what we do with our world, right now, will propagate down through the centuries and powerfully affect the destiny of our descendants. It is well within our power to destroy our civilization and perhaps our species as well."
Sagan units
As a humorous tribute to him, a sagan has been defined as a unit of measurement equal to at least four billion, since the lower bound of a number conforming to the constraint of billions and billions must be two billion plus two billion.[31][32] Assuming one uses the short scale definition for billion, there are nearly 100 sagan (400,000,000,000) stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
Apple Computer
In 1994, Apple Computer began developing the Power Macintosh 7100. They code-named some computers after astronomers, such as Copernicus, and for the 7100 chose the internal code name "Carl Sagan", a possible inference being that the mid-range PowerMac 7100 should make Apple "billions and billions."[4]
Though the internal project name was never used in public marketing, it did come up in Usenet postings and news of the name grew from there. When Sagan learned of this he sued Apple Computer to force the use of a different project name. Other models released conjointly had code names such as "Cold fusion" and "Piltdown Man", and Sagan was displeased at being associated with what he considered pseudoscience. (He was at the time writing a book discrediting pseudoscience.)[33]
Though Sagan lost the lawsuit, Apple engineers complied with his demands anyway and renamed the project "BHA" (for Butt-Head Astronomer). Sagan promptly sued Apple for libel over the new name, claiming that it subjected him to contempt and ridicule, but he lost this lawsuit as well. Still, the 7100 saw another name change: it was finally referred to internally as "LAW" (Lawyers Are Wimps).[34][35]
Social concerns
Sagan believed that the Drake equation, on substitution of reasonable estimates, suggested that a large number of extraterrestrial civilizations would form, but that the lack of evidence of such civilizations highlighted by the Fermi paradox suggests technological civilizations tend to destroy themselves rather quickly. This stimulated his interest in identifying and publicizing ways that humanity could destroy itself, with the hope of avoiding such a cataclysm and eventually becoming a spacefaring species. Sagan's deep concern regarding the potential destruction of human civilization in a nuclear holocaust was conveyed in a memorable cinematic sequence in the final episode of Cosmos, called "Who Speaks for Earth?" Sagan had already resigned from the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board and voluntarily surrendered his top-security clearance in protest over the Vietnam War.[36] Following his marriage to his third wife (novelist Ann Druyan) in June 1981, Sagan became more politically active—particularly in opposing escalation of the nuclear arms race under President Ronald Reagan.
In March 1983, Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative—a multi-billion dollar project to develop a comprehensive defense against attack by nuclear missiles, which was quickly dubbed the "Star Wars" program. Sagan spoke out against the project, arguing that it was technically impossible to develop a system with the level of perfection required, and far more expensive to build than for an enemy to defeat through decoys and other means—and that its construction would seriously destabilize the nuclear balance between the United States and the Soviet Union, making further progress toward nuclear disarmament impossible.
When Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared a unilateral moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons, which would begin on August 6, 1985—the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima—the Reagan administration dismissed the dramatic move as nothing more than propaganda, and refused to follow suit. In response, American anti-nuclear and peace activists staged a series of protest actions at the Nevada Test Site, beginning on Easter Sunday in 1986 and continuing through 1987. Hundreds of people were arrested, including Sagan, who was arrested on two separate occasions as he climbed over a chain-link fence at the test site.
Personal life and beliefs
Sagan married three times: in 1957, to biologist Lynn Margulis, mother of Dorion Sagan and Jeremy Sagan; in 1968, to artist Linda Salzman, mother of Nick Sagan; and in 1981, to author Ann Druyan, mother of Alexandra Rachel (Sasha) Sagan and Samuel Democritus Sagan. His marriage to Druyan continued until his death in 1996.
Isaac Asimov described Sagan as one of only two people he ever met whose intellect surpassed his own. The other, he claimed, was the computer scientist and artificial intelligence expert Marvin Minsky.[37]
Sagan wrote frequently about religion and the relationship between religion and science, expressing his skepticism about the conventional conceptualization of God as a sapient being. For example:
Some people think God is an outsized, light-skinned male with a long white beard, sitting on a throne somewhere up there in the sky, busily tallying the fall of every sparrow. Others—for example Baruch Spinoza and Albert Einstein—considered God to be essentially the sum total of the physical laws which describe the universe. I do not know of any compelling evidence for anthropomorphic patriarchs controlling human destiny from some hidden celestial vantage point, but it would be madness to deny the existence of physical laws.[38]
Sagan, however, denied that he was an atheist: "An atheist has to know a lot more than I know."[39] In reply to a question in 1996 about his religious beliefs, Sagan answered, "I'm agnostic."[40] Sagan maintained that the idea of a creator of the universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could challenge it would be an infinitely old universe.[41]
In 2006, Ann Druyan edited Sagan's 1985 Glasgow Gifford Lectures in Natural Theology into a book, The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God, in which he elaborates on his views of divinity in the natural world.
Sagan is also widely regarded as a freethinker or skeptic; one of his most famous quotations, in Cosmos, was, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."[42] This was based on a nearly identical statement by fellow founder of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal founder Marcello Truzzi, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof."[43] This idea originated with Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827), a French mathematician and astronomer who said, "The weight of evidence for an extraordinary claim must be proportioned to its strangeness."[44]
Late in his life, Sagan's books elaborated on his skeptical, naturalistic view of the world. In The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, he presented tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent ones, essentially advocating wide use of critical thinking and the scientific method. The compilation Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium, published in 1997 after Sagan's death, contains essays written by Sagan, such as his views on abortion, and his widow Ann Druyan's account of his death as a skeptic, agnostic, and freethinker.
Sagan warned against humans' tendency towards anthropocentrism. He was the faculty adviser for the Cornell Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In the Cosmos chapter "Blues For a Red Planet", Sagan wrote, "If there is life on Mars, I believe we should do nothing with Mars. Mars then belongs to the Martians, even if the Martians are only microbes."[45]
Sagan was a user of marijuana. Under the pseudonym "Mr. X", he contributed an essay about smoking cannabis to the 1971 book Marihuana Reconsidered.[46][47] The essay explained that marijuana use had helped to inspire some of Sagan's works and enhance sensual and intellectual experiences. After Sagan's death, his friend Lester Grinspoon disclosed this information to Sagan's biographer, Keay Davidson. The publishing of the biography, Carl Sagan: A Life, in 1999 brought media attention to this aspect of Sagan's life.[48][49][50]
In 1966, Sagan was asked to contribute an interview about the possibility of extraterrestrials to a proposed introduction to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Sagan reportedly asked for control and a percentage of the film's box office receipts in return; these terms were rejected.[51]
Sagan and UFOs
Sagan had some interest in UFO reports from at least 1964 when he had several conversations on the subject with Jacques Vallee.[52] Though quite skeptical of any extraordinary answer to the UFO question, Sagan thought scientists should study the phenomenon, at least because there was widespread public interest in UFO reports.
Stuart Appelle notes that Sagan "wrote frequently on what he perceived as the logical and empirical fallacies regarding UFOs and the abduction experience. Sagan rejected an extraterrestrial explanation for the phenomenon but felt there were both empirical and pedagogical benefits for examining UFO reports and that the subject was, therefore, a legitimate topic of study."[53]
In 1966, Sagan was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force's UFO investigation project. The committee concluded Blue Book had been lacking as a scientific study, and recommended a university-based project to give the UFO phenomenon closer scientific scrutiny. The result was the Condon Committee (1966–1968), led by physicist Edward Condon, and in their final report they formally concluded that UFOs, regardless of what any of them actually were, did not behave in a manner consistent with a threat to national security.
Ron Westrum writes that "The high point of Sagan's treatment of the UFO question was the AAAS's symposium in 1969. A wide range of educated opinions on the subject were offered by participants, including not only proponents such as James McDonald and J. Allen Hynek but also skeptics like astronomers William Hartmann and Donald Menzel. The roster of speakers was balanced, and it is to Sagan's credit that this event was presented in spite of pressure from Edward Condon".[52] With physicist Thornton Page, Sagan edited the lectures and discussions given at the symposium; these were published in 1972 as UFOs: A Scientific Debate. Some of Sagan's many books examine UFOs (as did one episode of Cosmos) and he claimed a religious undercurrent to the phenomenon.
Sagan again revealed his views on interstellar travel in his 1980 Cosmos series. In one of his last written works, Sagan argued that the chances of extraterrestrial spacecraft visiting Earth are vanishingly small. However, Sagan did think it plausible that Cold War concerns contributed to governments misleading their citizens about UFOs, and that "some UFO reports and analyses, and perhaps voluminous files, have been made inaccessible to the public which pays the bills ... It's time for the files to be declassified and made generally available." He cautioned against jumping to conclusions about suppressed UFO data and stressed that there was no strong evidence that aliens were visiting the Earth either in the past or present.[54]
Death
After a long and difficult fight with myelodysplasia, which included three bone marrow transplants, Sagan died of pneumonia at the age of 62 at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, on December 20, 1996.[55] He was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Ithaca, New York.
Posthumous recognition
The 1997 movie Contact, based on Sagan's novel of the same name and finished after his death, ends with the dedication "For Carl".
In 1997, the Sagan Planet Walk was opened in Ithaca New York. It is a walking scale model of the solar system, extending 1.2 km from the center of The Commons in downtown Ithaca, NY, to the Sciencenter, a hands-on museum. The exhibition was created in memory Carl Sagan, who was an Ithaca resident and Cornell Professor. Professor Sagan had been a founding member of the museum's advisory board.[56]
After landing, the unmanned Mars Pathfinder spacecraft was renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station on July 5, 1997.
Sagan's son, Nick Sagan, wrote several episodes in the Star Trek franchise. In an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise entitled "Terra Prime", a quick shot is shown of the relic rover Sojourner, part of the Mars Pathfinder mission, placed by a historical marker at Carl Sagan Memorial Station on the Martian surface. The marker displays a quote from Sagan: "Whatever the reason you're on Mars, I'm glad you're there, and I wish I was with you." Sagan's student Steve Squyres led the team that landed the Spirit Rover and Opportunity Rover successfully on Mars in 2004.
Asteroid 2709 Sagan is also named in his honor.
On November 9, 2001, on what would have been Sagan's 67th birthday, the NASA Ames Research Center dedicated the site for the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Cosmos. "Carl was an incredible visionary, and now his legacy can be preserved and advanced by a 21st century research and education laboratory committed to enhancing our understanding of life in the universe and furthering the cause of space exploration for all time", said NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin. Ann Druyan was at the Center as it opened its doors on October 22, 2006.
Sagan has at least three awards named in his honor:
- The Carl Sagan Memorial Award presented jointly since 1997 by the American Astronautical Society (AAS) and the Planetary Society,
- The Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science presented since 1998 by the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences (AAS/DPS) for outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist to the general public — Carl Sagan was one of the original organizing committee members of the DPS, and
- The Carl Sagan Award for Public Understanding of Science presented by the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) — Sagan himself was the first recipient of the CSSP award in 1993.[57]
In 2006, the Carl Sagan Medal was awarded to astrobiologist and author David Grinspoon, the son of Sagan's friend Lester Grinspoon.
On December 20, 2006, the tenth anniversary of Sagan's death, a blogger, Joel Schlosberg, organized a Carl Sagan "blog-a-thon" to commemorate Sagan's death, and the idea was supported by Nick Sagan.[58] Many members of the blogging community participated.
In 2008, Benn Jordan, also known as "The Flashbulb", released the album Pale Blue Dot: A Tribute to Carl Sagan.
In 2009, clips from Carl Sagan's Cosmos were used as the basis for A Glorious Dawn, the first video produced for the Symphony of Science, an educational music video production by composer John Boswell. Musician Jack White later released this song as a vinyl single under his record label Third Man Records.[59] Additional clips were used in several followup videos which featured Sagan alongside other noted scientists and proponents of rational thinking, such as Richard Dawkins, Richard Feynman, Brian Greene, Lawrence M. Krauss, Bill Nye, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. So far, Sagan is the only scientist featured in every Symphony of Science video.
Also in 2009, the 75th anniversary of Carl Sagan's birth, the first "Carl Sagan Day" was celebrated on November 7.[60]
Awards and honors
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/NASA_Distinguished_Public_Service_Medal.jpeg)
- Annual Award for Television Excellence - 1981 - Ohio State University - PBS series Cosmos
- Apollo Achievement Award - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal - National Aeronautics and Space Administration (twice)
- Emmy - Outstanding Individual Achievement - 1981 - PBS series Cosmos
- Emmy - Outstanding Informational Series - 1981 - PBS series Cosmos
- Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Helen Caldicott Leadership Award - Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament
- Hugo Award - 1981 - Cosmos
- Humanist of the Year - 1981 - Awarded by the American Humanist Association
- In Praise of Reason Award - 1987 - Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
- Isaac Asimov Award - 1994 - Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
- John F. Kennedy Astronautics Award - American Astronautical Society
- John W. Campbell Memorial Award - 1974 - Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective
- Joseph Priestley Award - "For distinguished contributions to the welfare of mankind"
- Klumpke-Roberts Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific - 1974
- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Medal - Awarded by the Soviet Cosmonauts Federation
- Locus Award 1986 - Contact
- Lowell Thomas Award - Explorers Club - 75th Anniversary
- Masursky Award - American Astronomical Society
- Miller Research Fellowship - Miller Institute (1960–1962)
- New Jersey Hall of Fame - 2009 inductee [61]
- Oersted Medal - 1990 - American Association of Physics Teachers
- Peabody Award - 1980 - PBS series Cosmos
- Prix Galbert - The international prize of Astronautics
- Public Welfare Medal - 1994 - National Academy of Sciences
- Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction - 1978 - The Dragons of Eden
- SF Chronicle Award - 1998 - Contact
- Named the "99th Greatest American" on the June 5, 2005, Greatest American show on the Discovery Channel
Publications
- Planets (LIFE Science Library), Sagan, Carl, Jonathon Norton Leonard and editors of Life, Time, Inc., 1966
- Intelligent Life in the Universe, I.S. Shklovskii coauthor, Random House, 1966, 509 pgs
- UFO's: A Scientific Debate, Thornton Page coauthor, Cornell University Press, 1972, 310 pgs
- Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence. MIT Press, 1973, 428 pgs
- Mars and the Mind of Man, Sagan, Carl, et al., Harper & Row, 1973, 143 pgs
- Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective, Jerome Agel coauthor, Anchor Press, 1973, ISBN 0-521-78303-8, 301 pgs
- Other Worlds. Bantam Books, 1975
- Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record, Sagan, Carl, et al., Random House, ISBN 0-394-41047-5, 1978
- The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence. Ballantine Books, 1978, ISBN 0-345-34629-7, 288 pgs
- Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science. Ballantine Books, 1979, ISBN 0-345-33689-5, 416 pgs
- Cosmos. Random house, 1980. Random House New Edition, May 7, 2002, ISBN 0-375-50832-5, 384 pgs
- The Cold and the Dark: The World after Nuclear War, Sagan, Carl et al., Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985
- Comet, Ann Druyan coauthor, Ballantine Books, 1985, ISBN 0-345-41222-2, 496 pgs
- Contact. Simon and Schuster, 1985; Reissued August 1997 by Doubleday Books, ISBN 1-56865-424-3, 352 pgs
- A Path Where No Man Thought: Nuclear Winter and the End of the Arms Race, Richard Turco coauthor, Random House, 1990, ISBN 0-394-58307-8, 499 pgs
- Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are, Ann Druyan coauthor, Ballantine Books, October 1993, ISBN 0-345-38472-5, 528 pgs
- Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. Random House, November 1994, ISBN 0-679-43841-6, 429 pgs
- The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Ballantine Books, March 1996, ISBN 0-345-40946-9, 480 pgs (note: the book was first published and copyrighted in 1995 with an errata slip inserted)
- Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium, Ann Druyan coauthor, Ballantine Books, June 1997, ISBN 0-345-37918-7, 320 pgs
- The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God, Carl Sagan (writer) & Ann Druyan (editor), 1985 Gifford lectures, Penguin Press HC, November 2006, ISBN 1-59420-107-2, 304 pgs
References
- ^ Sagan, Carl (1994). Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1st ed.). New York: Random House. p. 68. ISBN 0-679-43841-6.
- ^ a b "StarChild: Dr. Carl Sagan". NASA. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ^ PL Monteiro. "Carl Sagan's Indigo Children".
- ^ a b Poundstone, William (1999). Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos. New York: Henry Holt & Company. pp. 363–364, 374–375. ISBN 0-805-05766-8.
- ^ Davidson, Keay (1999). Carl Sagan: A Life. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 33–41. ISBN 0-471-25286-7.
- ^ http://astro.uchicago.edu/RAS/
- ^ Graduate students receive first Sagan teaching awards
- ^ Charlie Rose interview, January 5, 1994
- ^ Much of Sagan's research in the field of planetary science is outlined by William Poundstone. Poundstone's biography of Sagan includes an 8-page list of Sagan's scientific articles published from 1957 to 1998. Detailed information about Sagan's scientific work comes from the primary research articles. Example: Sagan, C., Thompson, W. R., and Khare, B. N. Titan: A Laboratory for Prebiological Organic Chemistry, Accounts of Chemical Research, volume 25, page 286 (1992). There is commentary on this research article about Titan at The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight.
- ^ The Columbia Encyclopedia. "Sagan, Carl Edward". Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
- ^ The Planetary Society. "Carl Sagan". The Planetary Society. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
- ^ Turco RP, Toon OB, Ackerman TP, Pollack JB, Sagan C. Climate and smoke: an appraisal of nuclear winter, Science, volume 247, pages 166-176 (1990). PubMed abstract JSTOR link to full text article. Carl Sagan discussed his involvement in the political nuclear winter debates and his erroneous global cooling prediction for the Gulf War fires in his book, The Demon-Haunted World.
- ^ "Carl Sagan". EMuseum@Minnesota State University. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ^ "CosmoLearning Astronomy". CosmoLearning. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ^ "Meet Dr. Carl Sagan". The Science Channel. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
- ^ Sagan, Carl (1995-01-05). (Interview). Interviewed by Charlie Rose http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1127834163386485385#2370s. Retrieved 2007-04-25.
{{cite interview}}
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- ^ Sagan, Carl (1996). The demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark. New York: Random House. p. 257. ISBN 0-394-53512-X.
- ^ In-situ observations of mid-latitude forest fire plumes deep in the stratosphere
- ^ EO Newsroom: New Images - Smoke Soars to Stratospheric Heights
- ^ Observations of Boreal Forest Fire Smoke in the Stratosphere
- ^ Fromm (2006). "Smoke in the Stratosphere: What Wildfires have Taught Us About Nuclear Winter". Eos Trans. AGU. 87 (52 Fall Meet. Suppl.): Abstract U14A–04.
- ^ Head, Tom (2006). Conversations With Carl Sagan. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 86–87. ISBN 1-578-06736-7.
- ^ "David Morrison - Taking a Hit: Asteroid Impacts & Evolution". Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures. Season 2007-2008. 2007-10-03.
- ^ Sagan, Carl; Ostro (1994), "Long-Range Consequences of Interplanetary Collisions", Issues in Science and Technology, Vol X (Number 4)
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has extra text (help) - ^ a b c Sagan, Carl (1998). Billions and Billions. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-37918-7.
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{{cite encyclopedia}}
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{{cite book}}
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ignored (help) - ^ "Carl Sagan Takes Questions: More From His 'Wonder and Skepticism' CSICOP 1994 Keynote". The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. 1994-06-26. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
- ^ Myers portrayed Sagan in "SNL: Carl Sagan's Global Warming Christmas Special [VIDEO]"<http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/71374/>
- ^ sagan at dictionary.reference.com (definition from the Jargon File)
- ^ William Safire, ON LANGUAGE; Footprints on the Infobahn, New York Times, April 17, 1994
- ^ "Q: Are Americans Too Litigious?". U.S. Time Magazine. 1994-10-17.
{{cite news}}
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(help) - ^ "This Week in Apple History: November 14-20". The Mac Observer.
- ^ Baird, Lourdes G, Judge (1994-06-27). "Carl Sagan, Plaintiff, v. Apple Computer, Inc., Defendant". 1994 U.S. Dist. Lexis 20154. 874 F. Supp. 1072. Central District of California: United States District Court.
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specified (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_6_60/ai_78889720/
- ^ Asimov, Isaac (1980). In Joy Still Felt: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1954-1978. Doubleday/Avon. pp. 217, 302. ISBN 0-380-53025-2.
- ^ Sagan, Carl (1986-02-12). "Chapter 23". Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science. Ballantine Books. p. 330. ISBN 0345336895.
- ^ Achenbach, Joel (2006-04-23). "Worlds Away". Washington Post. p. W15.
- ^ Head, Tom. "Conversations with Carl". Skeptic. 13 (1): 32–38.Excerpted in Head, Tom, ed. (2006). University of Mississippi Press. ISBN 1-57806-736-7..
{{cite book}}
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(help); Text "Conversations with Carl Sagan" ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Sagan, Carl (1996). The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 278. ISBN 0-345-40946-9.
- ^ Carl Sagan (writer/host) (1980-12-14). "Encyclopaedia Galactica". Cosmos. Episode 12. 01:24 minutes in. PBS.
- ^ Truzzi, Marcello (1998). "On Some Unfair Practices towards Claims of the Paranormal". Oxymoron: Annual Thematic Anthology of the Arts and Sciences, Vol.2: The Fringe. Oxymoron Media. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
- ^ A sense of place in the heartland, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online
- ^ Sagan, Carl (1985-10-12). Cosmos. Ballantine Books. p. 108. ISBN 0345331354.
- ^ Grinspoon, Lester (1994). Marihuana Reconsidered (2nd ed.). Oakland, CA: Quick American Archives. ISBN 0-932-55113-0.
- ^ Sagan, Carl. "Mr. X". Marijuana-Uses.com. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ Whitehouse, David (1999-10-15). "Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
- ^ Davidson, Keay (1999-08-22). "US: Billions and Billions of '60s Flashbacks". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
- ^ Larsen, Dana (1999-11-01). "Carl Sagan: Toking Astronomer". Cannabis Culture Magazine. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
- ^ Anthony Barnes (2005-10-23). "2001: The Secrets of Kubrick's Classic". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ a b Westrum, Ron (2000). "Limited Access: Six Natural Scientists and the UFO Phenomenon". UFOs and abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. pp. 30–55. ISBN 0-700-61032-4.
{{cite book}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Appelle, Stuart (2000). "Ufology and Academia: The UFO Phenomenon as a Scholarly Discipline". UFOs and abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. pp. 7–30. ISBN 0-700-61032-4.
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- ^ "Carl Sagan dies at 62". CNN. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
- ^ http://www.sciencenter.org/saganpw/
- ^ "Sagan Award for Public Understanding of Science". The Council of Scientific Society Presidents. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
- ^ Joel's humanistic blog: Announcing the Carl Sagan memorial blog-a-thon
- ^ "Jack White: Carl Sagan's Biggest Fan". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
- ^ http://www.carlsaganday.com/
- ^ New Jersey to Bon Jovi: You Give Us a Good Name Yahoo News, February 2, 2009
Further reading
- Davidson, Keay (1999). Carl Sagan: A Life. New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 33–41. ISBN 0471252867.
- Head, Tom (ed.) (2005). Conversations with Carl Sagan. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1578067367.
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(help) - Poundstone, William (1999). Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 0805057668.
- Morrison, David (2006). "Carl Sagan: The People's Astronomer" (PDF). AmeriQuests. 3 (2).
- Achenbach, Joel (1999). Captured by Aliens: the search for life and truth in a very large universe. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84856-2.
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External links
- The Carl Sagan Portal
- Carl Sagan at IMDb
- Template:Worldcat id
- Carl Sagan at Find a Grave
- Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization
- Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science, presented by the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences (AAS/DPS)
- Video of skit from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson mentioning "billions and billions"
- Inspirational speech by Carl Sagan 1996
- American agnostics
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