Carl Sagan was an astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science enthusiast who changed the way we look at the cosmos. Sagan’s youth was shaped through his mother and father in New York City where many events crossed his path and changed his views on life and the universe around us. At a young age, Carl’s parents brought him to the 1939-1940 New York’s World’s Fair which he would never forget. During the walk to the World’s Fair, Carl and his father Sam passed by a poor gentleman pedaling pencils. Sam took a look into their lunches and offered the man Carl’s apple. When young Carl Sagan saw this, he burst into tears and complained to his father that it was his own apple. Sam told his son, “‘We don’t really need that apple. That fellow was hungry’”. This moral example stuck to Carl Sagan his whole life, and it created the bedrock of his principles.
The World’s Fair had multiple attractions including General Motors’ map of the America of Tomorrow. Here observers looked down upon what was to be the future of the world— towering buildings crossing the sky, highways that rose off of the ground, the ability to change the weather, robots, and better energy sources like atomic power. Sagan marveled at what the world would become in the near future. Another exhibit showed other technologies that were emerging. These included a photo electric cell that made noise when light struck it and an oscilloscope that created a picture from a sound wave. Amazed by these new inventions, Sagan pondered about their functionality. The most important item of this exhibit was one that would later make Carl Sagan famous: the television. Of all the attractions, the 1939 time capsule was most popular. It holds many objects from the 1930s and is to be opened in the far future. This event made a lasting impression on Sagan so that later in his life he and his partners made a time capsule of their own for all of the Pioneer and Voyager space crafts. These four space crafts all hold one plague or record that represented the delicate planet earth. Last month Voyager 1 became the first human object to leave the solar system. Voyager holds Carl Sagan’s golden record that is waiting to be found by something in the depths of space.
When Sagan was only five years old his wonders about the universe had arrived. Carl and one of his close friends had been experimenting with lenses. Young Carl Sagan looked up to the stars and noticed there was something unique about them. They seemed unlike anything he had ever seen. Searching for answers, Carl asked his friends and parents what stars were, but they did not know anything about them. He turned to the local library. There he asked for a book about stars. He received a children’s book that explained that stars were suns extremely distant from Earth. Carl Sagan recalled, “‘The scale of the universe suddenly opened up to me. [It was] kind of a religious experience. [There] was a magnificence to it, a grandeur, a scale which has never left me. Never ever left me”’ (Davidson). Later, when Carl was six or seven, he started to use two lenses to look at the craters on the moon and the red shades of Mars. His observations lead him into the profession he had in his later life.
Carl Sagan was in the midst of his scientific carrier when he decided to start up a show named Cosmos. With the help of his wife and many close friends and collogues, he started the most watched science television show of the time. It had some of the newest equipment for filming including the blue screen. This helped make it an instant hit in a time where space exploration soared with multiple space craft missions to the planets of our solar system. Demonstrating his ability to relate everyday objects to the complex universe we live in, Carl Sagan said, “‘If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe’” (Raymond Shubinski). Even those not versed in science were captivated by his show as they were able to relate to him easily. Later in Cosmos Sagan discussed the aftermath of nuclear war and wrote a book about it called A Path Where No Man Thought. The time at which Cosmos broadcasted was a time when nuclear war was an everyday possibility. Carl was so passionate about nuclear war, that he wrote books on it, talked about its implications on his show, and developed the idea of the nuclear winter. Carl Sagan petitioned that countries should abandon their nuclear weapons programs. In the certain sense of nuclear war, Cosmos made Sagan passionate about this throughout his whole life. The show also made Carl Sagan known to the world and changed him in the sense that he focused more on teaching the public. Cosmos was a show that brought together scientists and the public through Carl Sagan’s excellent cosmic lessons.
As an astronomer I had always heard about the legend of Carl Sagan. He is very well known to the astronomy world, and I had never done any research on his life. I learned all about his intriguing life and certain moments that shaped who he was. When I am older, I hope to follow in his field of work. The main offset that I would make from Carl Sagan’s career would his role in the television industry. Instead I would focus more of my time in the research field. I see certain qualities in Sagan’s life that I also possess. These include the wonder and awe that he had as a child and his love for science. Now that I know about his life, I will strive to stand up for the environment just as he did. I would like to emulate his ideal of regarding every living organism as precious and unique. I will do this by protecting the environment and the universe around us from the harm of human hands. As Carl Sagan would say, “Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will never find another” (Shubinski).
better energy sources like atomic power. Sagan marveled at what the world would become in the near future. Another exhibit showed other technologies that were emerging. These included a photo electric cell that made noise when light struck it and an oscilloscope that created a picture from a sound wave. Amazed by these new inventions, Sagan pondered about their functionality. The most important item of this exhibit was one that would later make Carl Sagan famous-the television. Of all the attractions, the 1939 time capsule was most popular. It holds many objects from the 1930s and is to be opened in the distant future. This event made a lasting impression on Sagan so that later in his life he and his partners made a time capsule of their own for all of the Pioneer and Voyager space crafts. These four space crafts all hold one plaque or record that represented the delicate planet earth. Last month Voyager 1 became the first human object to leave the solar system. Voyager holds Carl Sagan’s golden record that is waiting to be found by something in the depths of space.
When Sagan was only five years old, his wonders about the universe had arrived. Carl and one of his close friends had been experimenting with lenses. Young Carl Sagan looked up to the stars and noticed there was something unique about them. They seemed unlike anything he had ever seen. Searching for answers, Carl asked his friends and parents what stars were, but they did not know anything about them. He turned to the local library. There he asked for a book about stars. He received a children’s book that explained that stars were suns extremely distant from Earth. Carl Sagan recalled, “‘The scale of the universe suddenly opened up to me. [It was] kind of a religious experience. [There] was a magnificence to it, a grandeur, a scale which has never left me. Never ever left me”’. Later, when Carl was six or seven, he started to use two lenses to look at the craters on the moon and the red shades of Mars. His observations lead him into the profession he had in his later life.
Carl Sagan was in the midst of his scientific career when he decided to start up a show named Cosmos. With the help of his wife and many close friends and collogues, he started the most watched science television show of the time. It had some of the newest equipment for filming including the blue screen. This helped make it an instant hit in a time where space exploration soared with multiple space craft missions to the planets of our solar system. Demonstrating his ability to relate everyday objects to the complex universe we live in, Carl Sagan said, “‘If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe’” (Raymond Shubinski). Even those not versed in science were captivated by his show as they were able to relate to him easily. Later in Cosmos Sagan discussed the aftermath of nuclear war and wrote a book about it called A Path Where No Man Thought. The time at which Cosmos broadcasted was a time when nuclear war was an everyday possibility. Carl was so passionate about nuclear war, that he wrote books on it, talked about its implications on his show, and developed the idea of the nuclear winter. Carl Sagan petitioned that countries should abandon their nuclear weapons programs. In the certain sense of nuclear war, Cosmos made Sagan passionate about this throughout his whole life. The show also made Carl Sagan known to the world and changed him in the sense that he focused more on teaching the public. Cosmos was a show that brought together scientists and the public through Carl Sagan’s excellent cosmic lessons.
As an astronomer I had always heard about the legend of Carl Sagan. He is very well known to the astronomy world, and I had never done any research on his life. I learned all about his intriguing life and certain moments that shaped who he was. When I am older, I hope to follow in his field of work. The main offset that I would make from Carl Sagan’s career would his role in the television industry. Instead I would focus more of my time in the research field. I see certain qualities in Sagan’s life that I also possess. These include the wonder and awe that he had as a child and his love for science. Now that I know about his life, I will strive to stand up for the environment just as he did. I would like to emulate his ideal of regarding every living organism as precious and unique. I will do this by protecting the environment and the universe around us from the harm of human hands. As Carl Sagan would say, “Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will never find another” (Shubinski).