Remembering the Genius of Carl Sagan
Once or twice in every generation, the cosmos produces a scientific mind so luminous, so capacious, so profound, that we helplessly stand in awe and wonder how one person apprehended so much.
Carl Sagan was born on November 9, 1934. Raised in a modest home, his parents instilled in him the values of hard work and integrity, along with a deep sense of wonder about the natural order. From an early age, Carl was fascinated by nature, spending his hours after school at the local library, deeply absorbed in books about astronomy, biology, and science fiction.
It came as little surprise that Carl excelled at school. But as happens to many gifted individuals, he found school life dull and stifling. It was only at the University of Chicago, where he was admitted at the age of sixteen, that his full potential was allowed to blossom. Sagan ultimately earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Astrophysics in 1960.
The story of Sagan’s professional career is long and impressive. He quickly distinguished himself as a brilliant astrophysicist, and was sought after by competing universities for his research on alien worlds. But it was not until 1980 that Carl Sagan entered the public consciousness with the debut of his widely celebrated television series, Cosmos. The show, with its breathtaking imagery and masterful oratory, left an indelible mark on minds everywhere.
Carl Sagan’s achievements are many. He was a talented scientist and a gifted science communicator, but it was his loving commitment to humanity and to reason that formed his true genius. Throughout his life, Sagan stressed the need to find human solutions to human problems. He reminded us that our ancestors had no knowledge of the natural world, extrapolating from their own experience to invent anthropomorphized Gods in the hope of propitiating them through blood sacrifices and other primitive methods. But then science came along and taught us that the world follows a natural order, and that we can understand things without the need for cruel, barbaric practices, or a belief in mysterious entities on insufficient evidence.
He observed that human beings possess a talent for self-deception, so he gave us the Sagan Standard: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. He reminded us that our imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but that without it, we would go nowhere. Thus, it is our duty to commit ourselves to a deep skepticism, and above all, to avoid wishful thinking. The world is a dangerous place, but nature has armed us with logic and reason. Sagan encourages us to journey forward into the unknown without the limiting forces of superstition and pseudoscientific thinking.
To preserve our hard-won democracy, Sagan underscored the need for an informed citizenry, asking whether people with little to no knowledge of science and technology will be capable of making decisions in an age dominated by those fields. The primacy and moral necessity of a scientific education is unquestionable. We must do better here, or watch ourselves slide backwards toward a nameless, faceless oppressor.
Some of the greatest lessons of my life came from this beloved sage. For the curious mind, countless hours of online footage are available, each a unique window into his extraordinary mind. This video on the “Pale Blue Dot” is a must watch. Viewers will be left with a tremendous sense of awe and gratitude for the spectacle we know as life. It also reminds us to be more kind and loving, both to ourselves and to others. We know so little, yet we destroy so much. Love is wise. Hatred is stupid. We must recognize our fundamental similarity and abandon our primal desires for power and dominance.
I was not fortunate enough to meet Carl Sagan in person, but his spirit is familiar. It lives inside those of us who look at the beauty of nature and think, wow.
Rest in peace, Carl.