Carl Sagan: Difference between revisions

Long before the ill-fated tenure process, [[Cornell University]] astronomer [[Thomas Gold]] had courted Sagan to move to [[Ithaca, New York]] and join the faculty at Cornell. Following the denial of tenure from Harvard, Sagan accepted Gold's offer and remained a faculty member at Cornell for nearly 30 years until his death in 1996. Unlike Harvard, the smaller and more laid-back astronomy department at Cornell welcomed Sagan's growing celebrity status.<ref>{{cite book |title=Carl Sagan:A life |first1=Keay|last1=Davidson |publisher= John Wiley & Sons |year=1999 |isbn=0-471-25286-7 |page=213 }}</ref> Following two years as an associate professor, Sagan became a [[Professor|full professor]] at Cornell in 1970, and directed the Laboratory for [[Planetary science|Planetary Studies]] there. From 1972 to 1981, he was associate director of the Center for Radiophysics and Space Research (CRSR) at Cornell. In 1976, he became the David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences, a position he held for the remainder of his life.<ref>{{cite book |title=Conversations with Carl Sagan |edition=illustrated |first1=Carl |last1=Sagan |first2=Tom |last2=Head |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-57806-736-7 |page=xxi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gJ1rDj2nR3EC}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=gJ1rDj2nR3EC&pg=PR21 Extract of page xxi]</ref>

 

 

=== Scientific achievements ===

[[File:Sagan Viking.jpg|thumb|right|Sagan with a model of the [[Viking program#Viking landers|Viking lander]] that would land on [[Mars]]. Sagan examined possible landing sites for Viking along with Mike Carr and Hal Masursky.]]

 

After ''Cosmos'' aired, he became associated with the [[catchphrase]] "billions and billions", although he never actually used the phrase in the ''Cosmos'' series.<ref name="BandB">[[#Sagan & Druyan 1997|Sagan & Druyan 1997]], pp. 3–4</ref> He rather used the term "billions ''upon'' billions."<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Shapiro |editor-first=Fred R. |editor-link=Fred R. Shapiro |others=Foreword by [[Joseph Epstein (writer)|Joseph Epstein]] |title=The Yale Book of Quotations |year=2006 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |location=New Haven, CT |isbn=978-0-300-10798-2 |oclc=66527213 |lccn=2006012317 |page=660 }}</ref> Carson, however, would sometimes use the phrase during his parodies of Sagan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIbbTHQmPkE|title=Carl Sagan (Cosmos) Parody by Johnny Carson (1980)|first=|last=24fpsfan|date=December 22, 2012|publisher=|via=YouTube}}<br><youtube width="200px" height="120px">iIbbTHQmPkE</youtube></ref>{{efn|[[Richard Feynman]], a precursor to Sagan, was observed to have used the phrase "billions and billions" many times in his "[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics|red books]]". However, Sagan's frequent use of the word ''billions'', and distinctive delivery emphasizing the "b" (which he did intentionally, in place of more cumbersome alternatives such as "billions with a 'b{{'"}}, in order to distinguish the word from "millions"),<ref name="BandB" /> made him a favorite target of comic performers, including [[Johnny Carson]],<ref>{{cite journal |editor-last=Frazier |editor-first=Kendrick |editor-link=Kendrick Frazier |date=July–August 2005 |title=Carl Sagan Takes Questions: More From His 'Wonder and Skepticism' CSICOP 1994 Keynote |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=29.4 |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/carl_sagan_takes_questions |location=Amherst, NY |publisher=The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry |accessdate=March 25, 2010}}</ref> [[Gary Kroeger]], [[Mike Myers]], [[Bronson Pinchot]], [[Penn Jillette]], [[Harry Shearer]], and others. [[Frank Zappa]] satirized the line in the song "Be in My Video", noting as well "atomic light". Sagan took this all in good humor, and his final book was entitled ''[[Billions and Billions]]'', which opened with a tongue-in-cheek discussion of this catchphrase, observing that Carson was an amateur astronomer and that Carson's comic caricature often included real science.<ref name="BandB" />}}

 

*[[Sagan effect]]

*[[Neil deGrasse Tyson]]

 

== Further reading ==

==YouTube Videos==

{{YouTube Videos|{{PAGENAME}}|PQ4qBBWv3b4|Sagan interviewed by Ted Turner, ''CNN'', 1989, video: 44 minutes!}}

{{Carl Sagan}}

{{PulitzerPrize GeneralNon-Fiction 1976–2000}}