Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Saganwas an American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in astronomy and other natural sciences. He is best known for his contributions to the scientific research of extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by radiation. Sagan assembled the first physical messages sent into space: the Pioneer plaque and the Voyager Golden Record, universal messages that could potentially be understood by any extraterrestrial intelligence that might find...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth9 November 1934
CityBrooklyn, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I hold that popularization of science is successful if, at first, it does no more than spark the sense of wonder.
Frederick Douglas taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but reading is still the path.
But I try not to think with my gut. If I'm serious about understanding the world, thinking with anything besides my brain, as tempting as that might be, is likely to get me into trouble.
We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still.
Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars.
There are wonders enough out there without our inventing any.
Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group.
Personally, I would be delighted if there were a life after death, especially if it permitted me to continue to learn about this world and others, if it gave me a chance to discover how history turns out.
Organic as a dandelion seed, [the ship of our imagination] will carry us to worlds of dreams and worlds of facts
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.
The total number of stars in the Universe is larger than all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the planet Earth.
It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.
I believe that the extraordinary should be pursued. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.