Carl Edward Sagan
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2,261
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Published
25
Film credits
24
Books
20
Awards
Carl Sagan’s 1980 PBS series Cosmos reached over 500 million viewers in 60 countries. As an astronomer and astrophysicist, he contributed to NASA’s Mariner, Viking, Voyager, and Galileo missions. He won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. Sagan co-founded the Planetary Society and wrote the bestselling book Cosmos.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Carl Sagan — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Carl Sagan by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Carl Sagan — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Carl Edward Sagan was born on November 9, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Rahway High School in New Jersey, graduating in 1951. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1955 and a master’s degree in physics in 1956, both from the University of Chicago, followed by a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics in 1960.
In 1980, Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage debuted on PBS and became the most watched series in public-television history. Before Cosmos, he taught at Harvard University and Cornell University, where he became a full professor in 1971. He contributed to NASA’s Mariner, Viking, Voyager, and Galileo missions, researching the greenhouse effect on Venus and seasonal changes on Mars. He also served as editor of the journal Icarus and co-founded the Planetary Society.
Sagan married Lynn Margulis on June 16, 1957; they divorced in 1963. He married Linda Salzman on April 6, 1968; they divorced in 1981. He married Ann Druyan on June 1, 1981, and remained with her until his death. He had five children: Dorion Sagan and Jeremy Sagan from his first marriage, Nick Sagan from his second marriage, and Sasha Sagan and Sam Sagan from his third marriage.
Sagan’s influence on science communication is enduring. The 2014 series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, was a direct continuation of his work. He received posthumous honors, including induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2009 and the International Space Hall of Fame. His ability to make complex scientific concepts accessible to the public remains his hallmark, captured in his often-quoted phrase billions upon billions.
The complete filmography of Carl Sagan — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Carl Sagan — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Carl Sagan's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
A wall of memorable lines from Carl Sagan — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
Billions Upon Billions…
We Live in a Society Exquisitely Dependent on Science and Technology, in Which Hardly Anyone Knows Anything About Science and Technology.
The Cosmos Is All That Is, or Ever Was, or Ever Will Be.
I Never Said It. Honest. – the Opening Line in His Last Book Called Billions and Billions. He Was Right – the Phrase Was Coined by Johnny Carson Imitating Him.
Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence
Who Are We? We Find That We Live on an Insignificant Planet of a Humdrum Star Lost in a Galaxy Tucked Away in Some Forgotten Corner of a Universe in Which There Are Far More Galaxies Than People.
In Science It Often Happens That Scientists Say, You Know That’s a Really Good Argument; My Position Is Mistaken, and Then They Would Actually Change Their Minds and You Never Hear That Old View from Them Again. They Really Do It. It Doesn’t Happen as Often as It Should, Because Scientists Are Human and Change Is Sometimes Painful. but It Happens Every Day. I Cannot Recall the Last Time Someting Like That Happened in Politics or Religion. the Method of Science Is Tried and True. It Is Not Perfect, It’s Just the Best We Have. and to Abandon It, with Its Skeptical Protocols, Is the Pathway to a Dark Age.
When Kepler Found His Long-cherished Belief Did Not Agree with the Most Precise Observation, He Accepted the Uncomfortable Fact. He Preferred the Hard Truth to His Dearest Illusions. That Is the Heart of Science.
Little-known facts about Carl Sagan — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Despite his frequent association with the phrase billions and billions, Carl Sagan never actually spoke those exact words in the entire run of Cosmos. He used billions upon billions instead.
He suffered from a rare blood disorder that led to cancer and his death.
Sagan was named 1981 Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association for his work as an educator, skeptic, activist, and popularizer of science.
He had five children: Dorion Sagan and Jeremy Sagan from his first marriage, Nick Sagan from his second marriage, and Sasha Sagan and Sam Sagan from his third marriage.
He received his bachelor’s degree in 1955 and his master’s degree in 1956, both in physics, from the University of Chicago.
Sagan was elected into the 2009 New Jersey Hall of Fame for his services in the Enterprise category.
He attended and graduated from Rahway High School in Rahway, New Jersey, in 1951.
He was the visual inspiration for Earl Meagan, a character from the V comics based on the television series V 1984.
He received the Grand-Cross of the Ancient, Most Noble and Enlightened Military Order of Saint James of the Sword of the Scientific, Literary and Artistic Merit of Portugal on 23 November 1998.
His biography appears in American National Biography, Supplement 1, pages 537-540, published by Oxford University Press in 2002.
Following his death, he was interred at Lakeview Cemetery in Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York.
He received his PhD in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of Chicago in 1960.
He has an Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath number of 9, which is among the lowest known.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Carl Sagan.
Celebrities similar to Carl Sagan — same craft, ranked by reach.
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