Carl Sagan: Difference between revisions
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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>
Sagan was associated with the U.S. space program from its inception. From the 1950s onward, he worked as an advisor to [[NASA]], where one of his duties included briefing the [[Apollo program|Apollo]] [[astronaut]]s before their flights to the [[Moon]]. Sagan contributed to many of the [[robotic spacecraft]] missions that explored the [[Solar System]], arranging experiments on many of the expeditions. Sagan assembled the first physical message that was sent into space: a [[gold]]-[[anodized]] [[Pioneer plaque|plaque]], attached to the space probe [[Pioneer 10]], launched in 1972. [[Pioneer 11]], also carrying another copy of the plaque, was launched the following year. He continued to refine his designs; the most elaborate message he helped to develop and assemble was the [[Voyager Golden Record]] that was sent out with the [[Voyager program|Voyager]] space probes in 1977. Sagan often challenged the decisions to fund the [[Space Shuttle]] and the [[International Space Station]] at the expense of further robotic missions.<ref name="CharlieRose">{{cite interview |last=Sagan |first=Carl |title=An Interview with Carl Sagan |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
=== Scientific achievements ===
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