Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan is known as one of the most famous scientists of all time. He revolutionized how the world looked at space and the search for intelligent life beyond our planet. The author of many books, he is most known for Contact (which was adapted into a movie) and for the PBS documentary Cosmos. As one of America's most famous astronomers and science-fiction writers, Carl Sagan turned a life of science into one of the most critically successful scientific careers of the 20th century.

As a child, Sagan avidly read science-fiction novels from authors such as H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Sagan "used to scour the entire library looking for anything that had to do with science, he was addicted to the subject at an early age" (Byman 5). This penchant for the sciences helped Sagan to excel at math and science in school, which eventually led him to major in astronomy in college.

Sagan's first experiences with writing came at the University of Chicago, where he received both his master's and his doctorate's degrees. These first encounters came in the form of scientific writings for professional journals, such as Icarus. His first scientific paper (which would later be reproduced in a Time-Life book, Planets) dealt with the theory that the surface of the planet Venus was very hot and dry, something that was not known to scientists at that time. Sagan began to gain recognition in his field and eventually became a full professor at Cornell, where he continued to publish many more scientific papers.

Sagan's first published novel was 1973's The Cosmic Connection, which dealt with the theories of extraterrestrial life outside of our solar system. "The Cosmic Connection sold well because Carl knew how to write about science with poetry and passion" (Cohen 47). Sagan then spent the next several years working on the Voyager space probes and Apollo missions that eventually led to his famous appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He soon became a household name with his television appearances and repeated catchphrases, such as "billions and billions."

Adding to his popularity, Sagan wrote The Dragons of Eden in 1977, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. That same year, Sagan's popularity reached an all-time high. He narrated co-wrote and co-produced the highly popular thirteen part PBS television series: Cosmos: Personal Voyage, which was modeled on Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man. Cosmos covered a wide range of scientific subjects including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe. "Carl was charming and at ease in front of the camera...He spoke clearly about complicated subjects, and he made science fun" (Clark 603) Cosmos won an Emmy and a Peabody Award and according to the NASA Office of Space Science, it has been since broadcast in 60 countries and seen by more than 600 million people.

In the next few years, Sagan continued to act as the astronomy professor at Cornell while contributing many papers to scientific journals and supplying his ideas to different NASA programs. In 1985, Sagan's most famous novel to date, Contact, was published. The book was written to be "yet another way for [Sagan] to present [his] concerns - UFOs, the existence of God, the importance of science - to a wide audience"(Sagan 81). Contact was later adapted into a popular movie which Sagan assisted with starring Jodie Foster as the book's heroine, Ellie Arroway.

Over the next few years Sagan lived a quiet life, only writing a few novels. He married Ann Druyan in 1981 and had two children. In 1992, Sagan was nominated for election to the National Academy of Sciences. This honor ensures that members become advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. In 1995, Sagan was diagnosed with myelodysplasia, which led to bone marrow cancer. Sagan died on December 20, 1996 at the age of 62 as a result of cancer.

Sagan was a science-fiction writer, in addition to being a scientific journalist and editor. Sagan loved to share science with all people by using simple analogies in his writings which served as a way to explain very complex scientific theories to the masses. Most of his books dealt with the possibility of extraterrestrials making contact with earth, which brought up the ideas of advanced civilizations that lead to the destruction of mankind throughout the universe as a result of constant evolution. This concept could be perceived as both a negative and a positive in terms of life on Earth.

Sagan is credited for his importance to the popularization of science, defending democratic traditions, resisting nationalism, defending humanism, and arguing against geocentric views. He caused mixed