Carl Sagan was an astronomer, astrophysicist and cosmologist, more than committed to scientific popularization. It was his passion and he managed to transmit it in each of the tasks he carried out.
His connection with the American space program started from its beginnings, as he worked as an advisor to NASA since the 1950s . Apart from instructing astronauts or preparing experiments, he was also responsible for the so-called “Golden Record” of Voyager, a universal message, with content from Earth and directed to possible extraterrestrial life, which would be sent out of the solar system with Voyager space probes in 1977.
The documentary series “Cosmos: A Personal Journey” broadcast in 1980 and created and presented by Sagan, was a landmark. Thanks to its simplicity and sympathy when it came to spreading science, the documentary series ended up winning an Emmy and a Peabody Award and was seen by more than 400 million people in more than 60 countries.
The series “Cosmos” would lead to a later book, a continuation of the 13 chapters. In addition, he published numerous books and articles in magazines and newspapers. One of his creations, “The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence,” was recognized with a Pulitzer Prize in 1978.
Some of his contributions to astronomy were crucial, for example, for the discovery of the high surface temperatures of the planet Venus.
Among his positions and appointments, he was co-founder of the Planetary Society, editor of Icarus Magazine, member of the Board of Directors of the SETI Institute, President of the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science or President of the Division of Planetary Science (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society. As a curiosity, he served as an advisor on Stanley Kubrick’s film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Sagan used – and defended – the use of marijuana. In fact, under the pseudonym Mr. X, he wrote an essay on this subject: “Marihuana Reconsidered” in 1971, where he stated that the use of cannabis helped or inspired him in some of his projects or initiatives.
Apart from censuring the great powers for producing nuclear weapons, the astronomer also maintained a very constant opposition and criticism against the pseudo-sciences.
Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once commented that Martin Minsky and Carl Sagan were the only two people he had ever met whose intellect surpassed his own.
Sagan died of pneumonia at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington (USA) on December 20, 1996. He was 62 years old.
