Carl Sagan | |
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 Sagan in 1980 | |
| Born | Carl Edward Sagan November 9, 1934 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | December 20, 1996 (aged 62) Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Resting place | Lake View Cemetery |
| Education | University of Chicago (BA, BS, MS, PhD) |
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| Spouses | |
| Children | 5, including Dorion, Nick, and Sasha |
| Awards | |
| Scientific career | |
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| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Physical studies of planets (1960) |
| Doctoral advisor | Gerard Kuiper |
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Carl Edward Sagan (/ˈseɪɡən/; SAY-gən; November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by exposure to light. He assembled the first physical messages sent into space, the Pioneer plaque and the Voyager Golden Record, which were universal messages that could potentially be understood by any extraterrestrial intelligence that might find them. He argued in favor of the hypothesis, which has since been accepted, that the high surface temperatures of Venus are the result of the greenhouse effect.[4]
Initially an assistant professor at Harvard, Sagan later moved to Cornell University, where he spent most of his career. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books.[5] He wrote many popular science books, such as The Dragons of Eden, Broca's Brain, Pale Blue Dot and The Demon-Haunted World. He also co-wrote and narrated the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which became the most widely watched series in the history of American public television: Cosmos has been seen by at least 500 million people in 60 countries.[6] A book, also called Cosmos, was published to accompany the series. Sagan also wrote a science-fiction novel, published in 1985, called Contact, which became the basis for the 1997 film Contact. His papers, comprising 595,000 items,[7] are archived in the Library of Congress.[8]
Sagan was a popular public advocate of skeptical scientific inquiry and the scientific method; he pioneered the field of exobiology and promoted the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life (SETI). He spent most of his career as a professor of astronomy at Cornell University, where he directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. Sagan and his works received numerous awards and honors, including the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal, the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (for his book The Dragons of Eden), and (for Cosmos: A Personal Voyage) two Emmy Awards, the Peabody Award, and the Hugo Award. He married three times and had five children. After developing myelodysplasia, Sagan died of pneumonia at the age of 62 on December 20, 1996.
- ^ a b c d e f Terzian & Trimble 1997, Article in Bull AAS 29(4).
- ^ Davidson 1999, The book is dedicated to Pollack.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
mathgenewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Sagan, Carl; Head, Tom (2006). Conversations with Carl Sagan (illustrated ed.). University Press of Mississippi. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-57806-736-7. Extract of page 14 Archived December 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
scholarwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "StarChild: Dr. Carl Sagan". StarChild. NASA. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved October 8, 2009.
- ^ The Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive: A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress (PDF). Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
- ^ Lowensohn, Josh (February 4, 2014). "Massive Carl Sagan archive posted by Library of Congress". The Verge. Archived from the original on January 12, 2020. Retrieved January 16, 2016.