biography
| name: |
Sagan, Carl (Edward)
|
pronunciation:
[saygn]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1934–96)
|
| biography:
| Astronomer and writer, born in New York City, USA. He studied at the universities of Chicago and California (Berkeley), taught at Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, and the Smithsonian Institution, and became professor of astronomy and space science at Cornell (1970). As director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies there, he was closely associated with the NASA programme of Solar System exploration from its inception and was involved in the Mariner, Viking, and Voyager spacecraft missions to the planets. He investigated the origin of life on Earth and the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence by the use of radio astronomy techniques. Through such books as Cosmic Connection (1973) and a television programme, Cosmos, he did much to popularize this aspect of science. |
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