Carl Sagan

Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer and science popularizer. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI). He is world-famous for his popular science books and the television series ', which he co-wrote and presented. In his works, he frequently advocated the scientific method.

References

• {{note|biographical}} For biographical information see ' by William Poundstone. Henry Holt & Company (October 1, 1999) ISBN 0805057668
• {{note|science}} Much of Sagan's research in the field of planetary science is outlined by William Poundstone (see reference #1, above). Poundstone's biography of Sagan includes an eight page list of Sagan's scientific articles published from 1957 to 1998. Detailed information about Sagan's scientific work comes from the primary research articles. Example: Sagan, C., Thompson, W. R., and Khare, B. N. "," Accounts of Chemical Research, volume 25, page 286 (1992). There is commentary on this research article about Titan at The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight.
• {{note|nuclearwinter}} Turco RP, Toon OB, Ackerman TP, Pollack JB, Sagan C. "," Science, volume 247, pages 166-176 (1990). PubMed abstract | JSTORE link to full text article. Carl Sagan discussed his involvement in the political nuclear winter debates and his erroneous global cooling prediction for the Gulf War fires in his book, The Demon-Haunted World.
• {{note|marijuana}} Marihuana Reconsidered by Lester, M.D. Grinspoon. Publisher: Quick American Archives (2nd edition; April 1, 1994) ISBN 0932551130
• {{note|Davidson}} ' by Keay Davidson. John Wiley & Sons (August 30, 1999) ISBN 0471252867
• {{note|drugnews}} BBC news story that includes mention of Sagan's marijuana use.
• {{note|apple}} An account of this lawsuit is given in ', pages 363-364 and 374-375.
• {{note|God}} A similar quote can be found in Chapter 23 of Sagan's book Broca's Brain. "Some people think God is an outsized, light-skinned male with a long white beard, sitting on a throne somewhere up there in the sky, busily tallying the fall of every sparrow. Others - for example Baruch Spinoza and Albert Einstein - considered God to be essentially the sum total of the physical laws which describe the universe. I do not know of any compelling evidence for anthropomorphic patriarchs controlling human destiny from some hidden celestial vantage point, but it would be madness to deny the existence of physical laws."