Carl Sagan
Also known as Carl Edward Sagan
American astronomer and science communicator (1934 to 1996); made Cosmos.
At a glance
Main ideas
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, Science as a way of thinking, Baloney detection kit …
See all 5Books to start with
The Dragons of Eden, Cosmos, Contact …
See all 5Connections
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Sagan was a planetary scientist at Cornell who worked on the Mariner, Viking and Voyager missions.
- He co-wrote and narrated the 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, seen by at least 500 million people.
- He helped show that Venus is dry and very hot, and suggested oceans on Titan and under the ice of Europa.
- He promoted scientific skepticism, most fully in The Demon-Haunted World.
- He proposed the Pale Blue Dot photograph of Earth taken by Voyager 1.
Why it matters
- He made astronomy and the scientific method a popular subject, and his toolkit for spotting bad arguments is still taught.
Key facts
- Born
- 9 Nov 1934, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York City1
- Died
- 20 Dec 1996, Seattle, aged 62, of pneumonia after two years of myelodysplasia1
- Education
- University of Chicago: BS in physics (1955), MS in physics (1956), PhD in astronomy and astrophysics (1960) under Gerard Kuiper1
- Career
- Miller Fellow at Berkeley from 1960 to 1962; assistant professor at Harvard, denied tenure in 1968; then Cornell for nearly 30 years, as David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences1
- Founded
- The Planetary Society, in 1980, as a founding member and its first president1
- Editor
- Icarus, from 1975 to 19791
- Awards
- Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (1978) for The Dragons of Eden; NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (1977); National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal1
- Output
- More than 600 scientific papers and articles1
Main ideas
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Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence1
His best-known line, based on a nearly identical statement by Marcello Truzzi.
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Science as a way of thinking2
Science works because it has a built-in error-correcting machine.
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Baloney detection kit2
Tools for skeptical thinking: independent confirmation, debate, more than one hypothesis, quantifying, Occam's razor, falsifiability.
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Why scientists should explain1
The public pays for science and has a right to know, and sharing the excitement is a joy.
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Civilisations may destroy themselves1
He read the Fermi paradox as a sign that technological civilisations tend to self-destruct, and warned of nuclear war.
Books to start with
The line under a date fills as it gets older: empty when new, full at 2 years.
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The Dragons of Eden1
On the evolution of human intelligence; introduced the Cosmic Calendar.
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Cosmos1
The companion book to the television series.
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Contact1
His novel, later a film.
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Pale Blue Dot1
His sequel to Cosmos, named for Voyager's view of Earth.
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Science as a candle in the dark; four chapters with Ann Druyan.
Connections
Links
Sources
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