11.09.2009

Happy Birthday Carl Sagan

Astronomer, author and famed champion of science, Carl Sagan, would have been 75 today. (He died in 1996 of pneumonia brought on by myelodysplastic syndrome.) His PBS show Cosmos had a huge impact on me as did his book Demon Haunted World. They're a big part of why I can get a little ranty sometimes about the importance of approaching things rationally and not relying on more intuitive types of knowledge. As Sagan put it (in a line used in the video below), "I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this cosmos."



Science is often condemned for being dry, dull, too hard, but Sagan was one of its most eloquent advocates, able to distill down to their essence the biggest ideas our species has come up with. He made science personal and inspiring.

Video from the Symphony of Science website.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is by far one of the greatist montages iv ever seen... Autotunes are generally pathetic but used this way its AWESOME!!