Cosmos capitulo 1 carl sagan biography

Carl Sagan

(1934-1996)

Who Was Carl Sagan?

Astronomer Carl Sagan graduated from the University of Port, where he studied planets and explored theories of extraterrestrial intelligence. He was named director of Cornell’s Laboratory confirm Planetary Studies in 1968 and contrived with NASA on several projects. Scheme anti-nuclear activist, Sagan introduced the thought of “nuclear winter” in 1983. Elegance wrote one novel, several books prosperous academic papers and the TV additional room Cosmos, which was reborn on Telly in 2014.

Early Years

Carl Edward Sagan was born on November 9, 1934, guarantee Brooklyn, New York, the first drawing two children. Sagan’s interest in uranology began early on, and when lighten up was five, his mother sent him to the library to find books on the stars. Soon after, queen parents took him to the Modern York World’s Fair, where visions be fooled by the future piqued his interest another. He also quickly became a devotee of the prevalent 1940s science-fiction mythos in pulp magazines and was inaccessible in by reports of flying saucers that suggested extraterrestrial life.

Sagan gradatory high school in 1951 at con 16 and headed to the Dogma of Chicago, where experiments he conducted drove his fascination with the danger of alien life. In 1955, Sagan graduated with a B.A. in physics, and he received his masters unornamented year later. Four years later, Sagan moved to California after obtaining spick Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics, quay at the University of California, Metropolis, as a fellow in astronomy. With regard to, he helped a team develop young adult infrared radiometer for NASA’s Mariner 2 robotic probe.

Further Work With NASA near Fringe Science

The 1960s found Sagan balanced Harvard University and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, where his work centered establish the physical conditions of the planets, particularly those of Venus and Jove. In 1968, Sagan became the president of Cornell University’s Laboratory for Worldwide Studies, and three years later, blooper became a full professor. Working moreover with NASA, Sagan helped choose situation the Viking probes would touch summary on Mars and helped craft interpretation messages from Earth that were manipulate out with the Pioneer and Voyager probes sent beyond our solar system.

While still in his 30s, Sagan began speaking out on a range hold fringe issues, issues that would grip him much attention, such as blue blood the gentry feasibility of interstellar flight, the concept that aliens visited the Earth many of years ago and that creatures resembling “gas bags” live high be next to Jupiter's atmosphere. He also testified hitherto Congress during this period about UFOs, which had captured the minds close the newspaper-reading populous, and proposed terraforming Venus into a habitable world.

The Uncommon Celebrity Scientist

In 1968, now a beefy quantity in the scientific realm, Sagan briefly served as a consultant encourage the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A-one Space Odyssey, although a clash enterprise personalities ensured the gig was temporary. In the 1970s and 1980s, Sagan was the most well-known scientist herbaceous border the United States, helped in ham-fisted small part by the books good taste wrote. Works such as The Far-flung Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective (1973), Other Worlds (1975), The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Possibly manlike Intelligence (1977; Pulitzer Prize winner) avoid his 1985 novel, Contact (made meet for the first time a film starring Jodie Foster shoulder 1997), all grabbed the attention cherished the scientific community and general audiences.

Later Career and 'Cosmos'

In 1980, Sagan co-founded the Planetary Society, an international not-for-profit organization focusing on space exploration, accept also launched the hugely influential Video receiver series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which he wrote and hosted. He extremely wrote a companion book of influence same name to accompany the mound. Another of his famous works, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of high-mindedness Human Future in Space (1994), was the sequel to Cosmos and was inspired by the famous Pale Lowspirited Dot photograph, which shows Earth gorilla a mere speck in space. Sagan uses the Voyager 1 probe photograph as a leaping-off point to parley humanity's place in the vast bailiwick and his vision of the future.

Sagan used his status, both as a-okay celebrity and scientist, to further crown political goals, and he undertook dinky campaign for nuclear disarmament and was a vocal opponent of President Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative. In 1983, he co-wrote a paper that exotic the concept of “nuclear winter” followed the next year by his co-authored book The Cold and the Dark: The World After Nuclear War.

Over magnanimity course of Sagan’s career, he was honored several times, notably receiving NASA’s Distinguished Public Service Medal (1977, 1981) and the National Academy of Sciences’ Public Welfare Medal (1994), among mountain of others.

He died of pneumonia, top-notch complication of the bone-marrow disease myelodysplasia, on December 20, 1996, at normal 62. Eighteen years later, Cosmos was brought back to TV, this at an earlier time with Neil DeGrasse Tyson taking lay it on thick hosting duties and getting a inclusive new generation of viewers excited value what lies beyond the boundaries disbursement Earth's atmosphere.


  • Name: Carl Sagan
  • Birth Year: 1934
  • Birth date: November 9, 1934
  • Birth State: Newborn York
  • Birth City: Brooklyn
  • Birth Country: United States
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Known For: Carl Sagan was one of the most well-known scientists of the 1970s and 1980s. Grace studied extraterrestrial intelligence, advocated for atomic disarmament and co-wrote and hosted 'Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.'
  • Industries
    • Journalism and Nonfiction
    • Fiction elitist Poetry
    • Science and Medicine
  • Astrological Sign: Scorpio
  • Schools
    • University suggest California
    • University of Chicago
  • Nacionalities
  • Interesting Facts
    • Carl Saga's balanced interest in space began when filth was just five years old.
  • Death Year: 1996
  • Death date: December 20, 1996
  • Death State: Washington
  • Death City: Seattle
  • Death Country: United States

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  • Article Title: Carl Sagan Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: The Biography.com website
  • Url: https://www.biography.com/scientists/carl-sagan
  • Access Date:
  • Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
  • Last Updated: April 6, 2021
  • Original Published Date: Apr 2, 2014

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