Today is Carl Sagan Day!

Please join us this November as we honor Carl Sagan and celebrate the beauty and wonder of the cosmos he so eloquently described.

Carl Sagan was a Professor of Astronomy and Space Science and Director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University, but most of us know him as a Pulitzer Prize winning author and the creator of COSMOS. That Emmy and Peabody award-winning PBS television series transformed educational television when it first aired in 1980, but now, thirty years later, it's gone on to affect the hearts and minds of over a billion people in sixty countries.

No other scientist has been able to reach and teach so many nonscientists in such a meaningful way, and that is why we celebrate Dr. Sagan, remember his work, and revel in the cosmos he helped us understand.

About Carl Sagan Day

The Center for Inquiry and especially our sister organization, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, had the honor of working with Dr. Sagan for twenty years, from 1976, when he was one of the founding members of CSI (then known as CSICOP), to 1996, when he published the last of his many articles in Skeptical Inquirer, just months before he died.

Two years ago, CFI Ft. Lauderdale, FLASH and other groups created the first Carl Sagan Day celebration for his birthday, November 9th, and the idea quickly spread around the world. Now groups from Australia to Alaska are planning star parties, astronomy lectures, science fairs, teacher workshops and more to say thanks to Dr. Sagan and bring his work to the next generation of "star stuff."

Celebrate with us!



More:
http://www.centerforinquiry.net/carlsaganday

Spiro Agnew too, but Carl and I ignore that. ; )

:rofl:

Travers, of Peter, Paul & Mary, is another born on Nov. 9.

"The Demon Haunted World" should be required reading.

The end of the book "Contact" was one of the best sci fi endings I've ever read.

Agreed. It pissed me off so very much when I saw the ending of the film version.

He's my idol.

:smoke:

the universe, human beings and their evolution, and so many other things it's hard to remember them all.

He was a brilliant man, a great humanist, and one of my few genuine heroes.

And I second the recommendation of "Demon Haunted World", a terrific book.

"The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interior of collapsing stars. We are all made of starstuff." -- Carl Sagan

;)

Great vid & some other good Carl vids, too. Thanks!

For those who are interested -- activities all day at Broward College North Campus in Coconut Creek. It's our 3rd Sagan Day

From our web page: http://carlsaganday.com/

The third annual Carl Sagan Day will take place on Saturday, November 12, 2011 at Broward College: North Campus.

This event is a celebration of the life and teachings of Carl Sagan, whose many books, television appearances (most notably Cosmos), and NASA projects influenced a generation of thinkers.

Join us for a day of curiosity, learning and appreciation.

This event is FREE for all who wish to attend.

Our speakers include:

NASA’s Dawn (Elliott) Martin, Ph.D.

JREF’s James “The Amazing” Randi

NASA’s Dr. Reggie Hudson

Ms. Karen Sulprizio from the Planetary Society

and our EmCee, Jeff Wagg

Kids activities in the morning. Grown up kids in the afternoon. Come see us. :hi:

--imm

our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness."

Carl Sagan.

A pot smoker to be exact. The type of person our current President, Vice President and Attorney General would gladly incarcerate and seize property from.

In the ideal world of our leaders, a guy like Sagan would've spent his life penniless and rotting in jail.

I was 19 and in college, in the mid-seventies. This was before COSMOS came out, and I had seen Carl Sagan on the Tonight Show, and had probably just read Dragons of Eden.

This boss at this temp job, male, came up and started talking to me. He was determined to prove that I didn't know anything about physics. College girls who are secretaries must be idiots, right?

He said, "Richard Feynman. I am sure you don't know who he is."

I said, "He wrote the Feynman Lectures on Physics."

He said, "Carl Sagan. I'm sure you don't know who he is."

I said, "He teaches astrophysics at Cornell."

After that he stopped.

:banghead: :wtf:

I was not a physics or math major, but I had smart boyfriends who did major in physics and math and computer science. So that's why I knew about Feynman and Sagan.


Bastard.

Your generous heart

Your noble spirit

Your questing mind

"This is what hydrogen atoms do given 15 billion years of evolution."

I loved COSMOS as a kid. I think he might have been my first real celebrity crush. :blush: