Carl Sagan won the Pulitzer Prize for his book Dragons of Eden, and co-wrote and hosted the Emmy and Peabody Award winning series, Cosmos, which went on to become the highest-rated public television broadcast.
Carl Sagan’s Early Life
Sagan’s life began on November 9, 1934 in Brooklyn, New York. Sagan went on to earn bachelor’s degree in 1955 and a master’s degree in 1956, both in physics, from the University of Chicago. He went on to complete a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics in 1960. Dr. Sagan became a full-time professor at Cornell University in 1971.
Good Scientist, Great Science Popularizer
Carl Sagan once explained that he tried to fulfill every invitation to the Tonight Show because it gave him the biggest classroom in the country. In addition to publishing over 600 scientific papers, and authoring more than 20 books, Sagan used his skills in articulation and persuasion to protest nuclear war. Sagan was the first to state that facts show a nuclear war would undoubtedly cause a nuclear winter, with atmospheric conditions harsh enough to wipe most life off the face of the planet.
Sagan was a vivid protestor against then-President Ronald Reagan’s "Star Wars" missile proposal, and though Sagan fulfilled each of the Tonight Show’s 26 invitations, he turned down all 3 of Ronald Reagan’s invitations to the White House.
Carl Sagan first appeared on television in the early 1960s in a program about the planet Venus, which serves as an introduction to his mesmerizing lecturing style.
Carl Sagan’s Cosmos
Sagan’s public broadcasting 13-part television show Cosmos first aired in 1978 and was eventually seen by over 500 million viewers in 60 countries. It inspired Sagan’s same-titled book, which went on to become the best-selling science book in the English language, still in print today. In the series, Sagan takes us on a “spaceship of imagination” through the 15-billion-year history of the Universe, introducing millions to the infinite and astronomical scale of outer space.
A Hole Remains in the Science Community
Carl Sagan's charisma and poetic writing style stand as-of-yet unmatched in the scientific community. Though he inspired countless teenagers from an entire generation to pursue science careers, a hole still remains after his untimely death in 1996 at age 62, after a long battle with a rare form of leukemia. He continued popularizing science up until the end; his last project was the film version of his novel Contact. A collection of his last writings was published posthumusly, titled Billions and Billions: Thoughts of Life and Death at the end of the Millennium. Asteroid 2709 Sagan is named in his honor.
Further Reading
- Davidson, Kaey Carl Sagan: A Life, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc 1999
- Poundstone, William Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos New York: Henry Holt 1999
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