Phil Plait at
Bad Astronomy reported that today, November 7, is Carl Sagan Day at Broward College in South Florida.
Carl Sagan, if you don't know, was an astronomer and scientist who was probably most responsible for the rapid popularization of science that occurred in the late twentieth century. He wrote books like
Pale Blue Dot (quoted in this blog's
inaugural post) and
The Demon-Haunted World, which pushed the natural wonder of the universe into the mainstream media for the first time. Plait documented the event at his
Twitter account.
A parting quote:
A scientific colleague tells me about a recent trip to the New Guinea highlands where she visited a stone age culture hardly contacted by Western civilization. They were ignorant of wristwatches, soft drinks, and frozen food. But they knew about Apollo 11. They knew that humans had walked on the Moon. They knew the names of Armstrong and Aldrin and Collins. They wanted to know who was visiting the Moon these days.
- Carl Sagan
(Thanks to Joel for the tip on this one.)
this is cool that you talk about Carl Sagon in your blog. I only read one of his books, Billions and Billions, in my senior year physics class, but hes really inspiring. I remember that his argument about global warming was particularly compelling-he compares it to Greek mythology and the consequences of ignoring dire warnings. He also talked about population explosions and how war and epidemics, although tragic, are needed in order to control the world population. This is a good book to check out if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billions_and_Billions:_Thoughts_on_Life_and_Death_at_the_Brink_of_the_Millennium
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