StarChild: Dr. Carl Sagan
Dr. Carl Sagan
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Isn't that amazing?
Dr. Carl Sagan helped design the plaques carried by both
Pioneer 10
and
Pioneer
11
. These plaques, bearing the images of a man and a woman as well as a
diagram showing Earth's location in the
Galaxy
, may one day be found by an
extraterrestrial civilization.
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Carl Sagan was an
astronomer
and a Pulitzer Prize winning author who was
often described as "the scientist who made the
universe
clearer to the
ordinary person". Dr. Sagan helped to popularize science through the
writing of hundreds of articles and over two dozen books. His television
series "Cosmos" became the most watched show in public television
history. It was seen by more than 500 million people in 60 different
countries. Dr. Sagan was born in New York City on November 9, 1934. He
described himself as a childhood science fiction addict who became
fascinated by astronomy when he learned that every star in the night sky was
a distant Sun. He was always encouraged by his parents to research
answers to his innumerable questions about science. His scientific curiosity
led him to earn four degrees in
physics
, astronomy and
astrophysics
from the
University of Chicago. Carl Sagan taught and conducted research at Harvard
University. He was among the first to determine that life could have existed
on Mars. In 1968, Dr. Sagan became a professor at Cornell University where he
was also director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. He was well-known
as a pioneer in the field of exobiology, the study of the possibility of
extraterrestrial life. He constantly appealed to
NASA
to extend its
exploration of the universe. In his role as a visiting scientist at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Carl Sagan helped design and manage the
Mariner 2
mission to Venus, the
Mariner 9
and
Viking
trips to Mars, the
Voyager
mission to the outer
solar system
and the
Galileo
mission to Jupiter.
Dr. Sagan suffered from a rare bone marrow disease called myelodysplasia.
Complications from the disease caused the pneumonia which ended his life on
December 20,1996.
A Question
What is the name of the field of study that investigates the possibility
of extraterrestrial life?
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The StarChild site is a service of the
High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive
Research Center (HEASARC)
,
within the
Astrophysics Science Division (ASD)
at
NASA/
GSFC
.
StarChild Authors:
The StarChild Team
StarChild Graphics & Music:
Acknowledgments
StarChild Project Leader:
Dr. Laura A.
Whitlock
Curator:
J.D. Myers
Responsible NASA Official:
Amber Straughn