Carl Sagan
In 1980, Sagan co-wrote and hosted the PBS series 'Cosmos: A Personal Voyage,' which reached at least 500 million people in 60 countries. It became the most-watched series in U.S. public television history for nearly a decade and made him the world's most famous popularizer of science.
Scientist and Spokesman
Born in Brooklyn, Sagan earned a reputation as both a working planetary scientist and the era's great popularizer of astronomy. After Harvard denied him tenure, he spent nearly 30 years at Cornell University.
Reaching the Public
His 1980 PBS series 'Cosmos' brought the universe into living rooms worldwide, becoming public television's most-watched program for nearly a decade. The companion book topped bestseller lists for 70 weeks.
Cosmic Legacy
Sagan advised NASA on the Mariner, Viking, Voyager and Galileo missions and championed the search for extraterrestrial life. He died in 1996 of pneumonia, a complication of a bone-marrow disease, at age 62.
Career Timeline
- 1968Joins Cornell University faculty after Harvard denies tenure
- 1972Helps design the Pioneer plaque for deep space
- 1977Wins Pulitzer Prize for 'The Dragons of Eden'
- 1977Curates the Voyager Golden Record for interstellar craft
- 1980'Cosmos' debuts on PBS to global acclaim
- 1980Co-founds and leads The Planetary Society
- 1985Publishes novel 'Contact,' later a 1997 film
- 1990Inspires the 'Pale Blue Dot' photo from Voyager 1
- 1994Releases the book 'Pale Blue Dot'
- 1996Publishes 'The Demon-Haunted World'; dies in December
Biggest Hits
- Sagan helped design the Pioneer plaque and Voyager Golden Record, humanity's messages to any extraterrestrials who might find the probes.
- He proposed the famous 'Pale Blue Dot' photo, having Voyager 1 turn back to image Earth from 3.7 billion miles away.
Portrait: NASA/JPL · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons