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Subscribe to RSSIt was 77 years ago today that astronomer Carl Sagan was born, and 15 years ago that he passed away after a long struggle with bone marrow disease. For a while, Sagan's rich legacy was commemorated on the date of his death, but in recent years, his fans have wisely focused on his birthdate instead. In celebration of his life, Saganites are screening episodes of his well-known TV documentary series, "Cosmos" ... planning parties with cosmic speakers ... and making apple pies from scratch. (First step: Invent the universe).
If anything, the astronomer's legacy has grown in recent years, as a new generation gets in touch with his easy way of communicating scientific perspectives to the public as well as his deep spirituality. Spirituality? That may come as a surprise to some, who view Sagan as a sharp-edged critic of religion in a "Demon-Haunted World." But his meditation on our "Pale Blue Dot" could well rank as one of the most spiritual essays of the 20th century. To find out more of that side of Sagan's legacy, check out "The Varieties of Scientific Experience," a book based on a series of talks he gave in 1985.
There'll be more for Saganites to cheer in the years ahead: A new version of "Cosmos" is being readied for prime-time TV in 2013, with astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson as host. Back in August, Tyson told me that he would bring his own style to the new show while preserving the Sagan spirit. "What people remember the most about 'Cosmos,' and what it did best, and what I don't think has been duplicated, is the effort to convey the meaning of science to a citizen of planet Earth," Tyson said. "'Cosmos' brought science to the public in a way that meant something to their relationship to each other, to the world and to the universe."
What does Sagan's legacy mean to you? Feel free to share your thoughts on this Sagan Day, in the comment space below.
More reflections on Carl Sagan Day:
- The Maddow Blog: Happy birthday, Carl
- 2001: Odysseys on a pale blue dot
- 2005: 'Cosmos' reborn at 25
- 2006: Salutes to Dr. Sagan
- 2007: Religion vs. science vs. politics
- 2008: Hope on a pale blue dot
- 2010: Dot on a holiday calendar
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or following the Cosmic Log Google+ page. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
An inspiration to many, including me, Carl Sagan was a beacon of light for more than just his generation. What light, you might ask? The one that radiates from the confluence of humanity and science, the light of the promise of a better world.
Thanks for letting me know about the new "Cosmos", SUPER pumped!
NickyDee Carl Was A Great man and was also a inspiration for me as well, I have never seen a person with such great insight to who we are, Good And Bad, I miss him very Much. Tom And Lyn
The first hardcover book I ever bought was "The Cosmic Connection" for the princely sum of $7.95. I loved it.
I later purchased several years later (and wish I could find agin), "Intelligent Life in the Universe" with I. S. Shklovskii and Carl Sagan. Two of my most prized books from childhood.
His wonderment and gift at conveying astronomy and science to general public may never be duplicated. I loved the guy and I still miss him - it's hard to believe that he passed away 15 years ago.
TPokeys
I found both of your books if you are still looking for them LOL, Here is the first one.
"The Cosmic Connection"
Click on the link http://www.amazon.com/Carl-Sagans-Cosmic-Connection-Extraterrestrial/dp/0521783038
And here is the second one "Intelligent Life in the Universe" with I. S. Shklovskii and Carl Sagan.
Click on the link http://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Life-Universe-I-Shklovskii/dp/189280302X
You have a Good day my freind, Tom And Lyn
TPokeys - There is an obscure website to find that book at, it's called "Amazon.com", which while it seems an odd name actually has a "fairly large" selection of science books. As of this post they have 17 copies, two of them new if you care about such things.
Mark
It would seem we where both on it at the same time lol hahahah I sent him some links above to find the books he was looking for LOL
You have a good day, Tom And Lyn
Here Is another good video from Carl LOL this is called Cosmos - Carl Sagan - 4th Dimension, take a look.
"Cosmos - Carl Sagan - 4th Dimension"
Here is the Link http://youtu.be/UnURElCzGc0
Have a good day Tom And Lyn
Carl was an institution of late 20th Century America, and we're all poorer for not having him with us any more.
He triggered a lifelong love of space in me as a kid watching Cosmos, and continues to inspire through the eloquent, thoughtful writing he did about science, culture, and the aspirations of the human race in the face of the cosmic.
Every time I read about a new scientific discovery, especially the astronomical, I wish Carl was still around to react to it and frame its importance for the world at large. I can only imagine his excitement about the discovery of exoplanets, the evidence of dark matter, and the amazing things that Hubble, Cassini, Opportunity, and other spacecraft and orbiters have returned to us.
Peter I could not have said it better myself, I agree 100% Have a good day
Tom And Lyn
Hardly a day goes by that I don't think about Carl Sagan and the gift he shared with the world--that unique insight into our interconnectedness, not only with one another but with the universe. What better evidence of the very spiritual nature of the man who saw physics and philosophy as the conjoined ends of a circle rather than opposite ends of the spectrum.
Mr. Tyson has some big shoes to fill, but I'm confident that he's a great choice to carry forward the torch.
Yes2MI
You Are Also Correct, I think that Tyson is also a good man in his own way, and he can fill his own shoes on his own. Carl is a hard act to follow, but there will be those who will broaden our understanding of Humanity and our place in witch we live, like Carl.
Have a good day Tom And Lyn
Here is a Quote From Carl Sagan that I try to live my life by everyday.
Have a good day Tom And Lyn
Here is a video from this Quote.
Pale Blue Dot http://youtu.be/MnFMrNdj1yY
Pale Blue Dot
Look again at that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there -- on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
Carl Sagan
Most every time I look at that Video (Pale Blue Dot), and I read the words at the same time while it is playing, it brings tears to my eyes, because Carl was so Right !! This is who we are, that small Pale Blue Dot.
Have a good day Tom And Lyn
I feel that that should be required reading for all of humanity. Maybe then we will evolve towards peaceful co-existance.
Stephen aka the righthinker
Just think of it, if everyone who would understand what carl was saying here.
I talk with a lot of friends about this subject, and most all of us agree, that if we as humanity could solve our social problems between money, greed, the color of our skin, and a true understanding that we all love, we all cry, and we all in most cases, seek out why we are here, then there would be no more hunger around the world, and we would be headed for the stars, and/or already be living on Mars. It is these petty social problems, or these petty differences between each other that we let (In Ignorance) hold us back from achieving great things. Maybe it will take like you say, evolution to change the way we think about ourselves in order for all of us to clearly understand what Carl was saying.
Have a good day, Tom And Lyn
Thank you Alan for posting this Article Today.
Here Is another video I have made, it is called "Humanity", It tells a story about who we are, and where we are going. It will make you smile and cry all at the same time.
At the end of the video I have added a quote from
Carl Sagan, it made a nice ending to the video, and why I made the video.
We miss you Carl. Have a good day Tom And Lyn
Humanity http://youtu.be/wwD2C9oe__Y
I always had a love of space and science fiction. Carl Sagan gave me a deeper understanding and greater respect for science, history, and the world we live in.
Cosmos aired when I was in high school and it opened up the universe for me and I learned things never taught to me in school. It was amazing to see on Cosmos that if history were slightly different humans might be reaching the nearest star by the 1980's instead of being stuck in near Earth space. Mr. Sagan also mentioned that the humans of this alternate Earth would probably be speaking greek.
I wish Mr. Sagan was still with us, he was a great champion of science and space exploration.
I watched Cosmos whenever I could and have read and still re-read all of his books. They teach me what is known about how we all came to exist and what we humans have done since. His spirituality rings out in his books. I am very glad to see that Carl is being remembered. Carl Sagan was one of the great men of science for me. I don't know what Cosmos will be without Carl Sagan, but I will give it a try.
Our World suffered a great loss when Carl Sagan passed!!!
Carl demonstrated more effectively than anyone else I know that the scientific method, intelligence, reason, and compassion are completely compatible. He was a great ambassador for the human species. I miss him.
In the 1990s, Dr. Sagan spoke at the NSTA National Convention in Houston. I was a science teacher and went to his "Pale Blue Dot" presentation. Shortly thereafter, I wrote him a letter asking him about some astronomy topics. He wrote back. I kept the letter. I've read his books, watched Cosmos many times, have used it, as well as excerpts from his books, in my teaching. He inspired me to wonder and seek to understand the universe and its workings. He was a special person and I miss him every time I teach my unit on astronomy. I am sharing his love of science and the cosmos with 160 ninth graders every year.
Truly memmorable man and his Cosmos, that was enjoyed by many. Now, man,
you're in the cosmos.
I will forever remember the following two sentences from Carl Sagan:-
1. There are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on earth
2. Look again at that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
What more can I say?
Miss him a lot, and the Cosmos series. Wish he could have expressed his beliefs in eternity as well as he did in his confidence in infinity. He came close in the movie with Jodie Foster. Maybe time and space are never to be figured out, even by minds like his or Hawkings. He did leave room for a hereafter. Strange trying to tie the two together without a God. Pure science always has that problem in the end. All just one big accident.
Other worlds besides us? Why. No more reason to think that than to believe in a creator, or accept the big bang.
Happy Carl Sagan's Birthday to all who have appreciated the knowledge his Cosmos TV series has provided. One place to watch Cosmos episodes is at TopDocumentaryFilms.com
Rest In Peace, Carl. You are my Inspiration.
Can't improve much on what above posters have already said. Carl Sagan was THE man. I'll echo the recommendation for "The Varieties of Scientific Experience" to those who are so inclined. While I don't share all of Dr. Tyson's views, I think he is a great choice for the new show. He seems to share Sagan's passion for bringing science to the non-scientist.
I was in college for the first moon walk, and that picture that changed everything, the view of the Earth from the Moon. We looked so alone, and so blue. Carl Sagan embraced the view of the Earth and then turned our gaze beyond, inviting us to embrace the next steps. He showed all of us just how further exploration was possible.
In either geologic or cosmic time the delays and setbacks politics and conflicts cause are just a blip in the process that takes us deeper into understanding. Like Carl says, if we don't destroy ourselves, we will do this.
Thanks for the vision, Carl.
I read the Pale Blue Dot excerpt to my students today. I showed them the picture from Voyager 1. I told them about Carl and that yesterday would have been his birthday. They sang Happy Birthday to him without my prompting. I had comments later about how they really liked the part that I read. Carl still lives in all of us who spread share his love of science and wonder of the cosmos.
billions and billions and billions....
I was never a fan of sagen, but at least we had a concise spokesperson for science, no one really has stepped into his shoes, in fact the role seems to be more divided and diluted every-marketing-day, now if you want to hear something, be told a certain point of view, or want to totally ignore a whole genre, you can pick your news outlet, there seems to be at least one for just about any view you have, in fact I think it's worse than that really, I used to listen to abc, cbs, nbc, voa, bbc, frg, radio marti and radio cuba for the same story, almost all told the same story, but would gently omit certain parts, to wit, their own spin...only way to get the full picture then, now, they don't just omit bits, they can often write as if there were seperate events, storys, viewpoints whatever.....what I am sure sagen himself would now, in his own polite little way, call outright lies. At best we sometimes just call it media manipulation.....almost like we expect the media to lie, that's why we picked that particular media outlet, cause we wanted to hear that.....personally, I would just like to hear sagen comment on the media empires and their distorted content...."billion and billions and billions of.......LIES..." (and with that we hear yet another last chunk of the murdock empire cleaving off into the deep abyss) (billions I say, billions!!).
I remember well how my father would let me watch Cosmos on TV when it first aired. I was so eager to get to the TV and watch Cosmos that I would finish my homework and chores early so I would never miss an episode. The Christmas my dad gave me Carl's book "Cosmos" along with a small refracting telescope was the best Christmas ever. I have happy childhood memories associated with Carl Sagan and Cosmos. Carl Sagan really made the Universe make sense to me, and stimulated my imagination and scientific curiosity.