Carl Sagan Physicist
- Gender: Male
- Citizenship: United States
- Born: Nov 9, 1934
- Died: Dec 20, 1996
Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in astronomy and other natural sciences. His contributions were central to the discovery of the high surface temperatures of Venus. However, 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 that were 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 them.
He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books. Sagan is known for many of his popular science books, such as The Dragons of Eden, Broca's Brain and Pale Blue Dot, and for the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which he narrated and co-wrote.
Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.
imagination
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
nature
For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.
love
Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.
religion & science
Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.
knowledge & science
A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.
being good
The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.
being good & intelligence
We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology.
science & technology
We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.
science, society & technology