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Έγινε περισσότερο πολιτικοποιημένος μετά τον γάμο του με την συγγραφέα [[Ανν Ντρύαν]]. Συμμετείχε σε διαμαρτυρίες κατά των πυρηνικών όπλων και κατέκρινε το αμυντικό πρόγραμμα του Προέδρου των ΗΠΑ Ρήγκαν (που έγινε γνωστό και ως ''Πόλεμων των Άστρων''), διότι θεωρούσε ότι ήταν αδύνατο να ολοκληρωθεί, ότι μπορούσε να υπερνικηθεί με πολύ λιγότερους οικονομικούς πόρους απ' ό,τι απαιτούσε η κατασκευή του και επίσης ότι υποβάθμιζε τις προσπάθειες του πυρηνικού αφοπλισμού.
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Carl Sagan was a user of [[Cannabis (drug)|marijuana]], although he never publicly admitted it during his life. Under the [[pseudonym]] "Mr. X," he wrote an essay concerning cannabis smoking in the 1971 book ''Marihuana Reconsidered'', whose editor was [[Lester Grinspoon]]<ref>''[[Marihuana Reconsidered]]'' by Lester, M.D. Grinspoon. Publisher: Quick American Archives (2nd edition; [[April 1]] [[1994]]) ISBN 0-932551-13-0. Sagan's [http://www.marijuana-uses.com/essays/002.html essay] is available online.</ref>. In his essay, Sagan commented that marijuana encouraged some of his works and enhanced experiences. After Sagan's death, Grinspoon disclosed this to Sagan's biographer, Keay Davidson<ref>''[[Carl Sagan: A Life]]'' by Keay Davidson. John Wiley & Sons ([[August 30]] [[1999]]) ISBN 0-471-25286-7</ref>. When the biography, entitled ''Carl Sagan: A Life'', was published in 1999, the marijuana exposure stirred some media attention<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/475954.stm BBC news story] that includes mention of Sagan's marijuana use.</ref>.
==Εκλαΐκευση της επιστήμης==
[[Image:Sagan Viking.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Sagan with a model of the [[Viking Lander]] probes which would land on [[Mars (planet)|Mars]].]]
Sagan's capability to convey his ideas allowed many people to better understand the cosmos. He delivered the 1977/1978 [[Royal Institution Christmas Lectures|Christmas Lectures for Young People]] at the [[Royal Institution]]. He narrated and, with Ann Druyan, co-wrote and co-produced the highly popular thirteen part [[PBS]] television series: [[Cosmos: A Personal Voyage|''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'']] (modeled on [[Jacob Bronowski]]'s ''[[The Ascent of Man]]'')
''Cosmos'' covered a wide range of scientific subjects including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe. The series was first broadcast by the [[Public Broadcasting Service]] in 1980. It won an [[Emmy Award|Emmy]] and a [[Peabody Award]]; according to the [[NASA]] Office of Space Science, it has been since broadcast in 60 countries and seen by more than 600 million people.
Sagan also wrote books to popularize science, such as ''Cosmos'', which reflected and expanded upon some of the themes of ''A Personal Voyage'', ''[[The Dragons of Eden|The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence]]'', which won a [[Pulitzer Prize]], and ''[[Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science]]''. Sagan also wrote the best-selling [[science fiction]] novel [[Contact (novel)|''Contact'']], but never lived to see the book's 1997 [[Contact (film)|motion picture adaptation]], which starred [[Jodie Foster]] and won the 1998 [[Hugo Award]].
From ''Cosmos'' and his frequent appearances on ''[[The Tonight Show]]'', Sagan became associated with the [[catch phrase]], "billions and billions." (He never actually used that phrase in ''Cosmos'', but his distinctive delivery and frequent use of ''billions'' made this a favorite phrase of [[Johnny Carson]] and others, doing the many affectionate impressions of him. Sagan took this in good humor, and his final book was entitled ''[[Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the End of the Millennium|Billions and Billions]]'' - see below.) A humorous unit of measurement, the ''[[Sagan]],'' has now been coined to stand for any count of at least 4,000,000,000.
He wrote a sequel to ''Cosmos,'' [[Pale Blue Dot|''Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space'']], which was selected as a notable book of 1995 by ''[[The New York Times]]''. Carl Sagan also wrote an introduction for the bestselling book by [[Stephen Hawking]], ''[[A Brief History of Time]]''.
Sagan presents a speculation concerning the origin of the [[swastika]] symbol in his book, ''Comet''. Sagan hypothesized that a [[comet]] approached so close to Earth in antiquity that the jets of gas streaming out of it were visible, bent by the comet's rotation. The book ''Comet'' reproduces an ancient [[China|Chinese]] manuscript that shows comet tail varieties; most are variations on simple comet tails, but the last shows the comet nucleus with four bent arms extending from it, showing a swastika.
Sagan caused mixed reactions among other professional scientists. On the one hand, there was general support for his popularization of science, his efforts to increase scientific understanding among the general public, and his positions in favor of [[scientific skepticism]] and against [[pseudoscience]]; most notably his thorough [[Debunker|debunking]] of the book [[Worlds in Collision]] by [[Immanuel Velikovsky]]. On the other hand, there was some unease that the public would misunderstand some of the personal positions and interests that Sagan took as being part of the scientific consensus, rather than his own personal views. Some believe this unease to have been motivated in part by professional jealousy, that scientific views contrary to those that Sagan took (such as on the severity of [[nuclear winter]]) were not being sufficiently presented to the public.
Sagan's arguments against Velikovsky's [[catastrophism]] have been criticized by some of his colleagues. [[Robert Jastrow]] of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies wrote: "Professor Sagan's calculations, in effect, ignore the law of gravity. Here, Dr. Velikovsky was the better astronomer." His comments on the [[Kuwaiti oil fires|Kuwait oil well fires]] during the first Gulf War were shown later to be incorrect; Sagan himself acknowledged his error in print.
Late in his life, Sagan's books developed his skeptical, naturalistic view of the world. In ''[[The Demon-Haunted World|The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark]]'', he presented tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent ones, essentially advocating wide use of the [[scientific method]]. The compilation, ''[[Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the End of the Millennium]]'', published after Sagan's death, contains essays written by Sagan, such as his views on [[abortion]], and Ann Druyan's account of his death as a non-believer.
==Προσωπικότητα==
In 1966, Sagan was asked to contribute an interview about the possibility of extraterrestrials to a proposed introduction to the film ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]''. According to an uncited anecdote in ''The Independent'', Sagan "responded by saying that he wanted editorial control and a percentage of the film's takings, which was rejected."<ref>[http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/film/news/article321643.ece 2001: The secrets of Kubrick's classic]" by Anthony Barnes ([[23 October]] [[2005]]).</ref>
In 1994, [[Apple Computer]] began developing the [[Power Macintosh 7100]]. They chose the internal code name "Carl Sagan," in honor of the astronomer.<ref>An account of this lawsuit is given in ''[[Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos]]'', pages 363-364 and 374-375.</ref> Though the project name was strictly internal and never used in public marketing, when Sagan learned of this internal usage, he sued Apple Computer to use a different project name — other projects had names like "[[Cold fusion]]" and "[[Piltdown Man]]", and he was displeased at being associated with what he considered [[pseudoscience]]. Though Sagan lost the suit, Apple engineers complied with his demands anyway, renaming the project "BHA" ([[Butt-Head Astronomer]]). Sagan sued Apple for libel over the new name, claiming that it subjected him to contempt and ridicule. Sagan lost this lawsuit as well; still, the 7100 saw another name change: it was lastly called "LAW" (Lawyers Are Wimps).
Sagan is regarded by most as an [[atheism|atheist]], [[agnosticism|agnostic]], or [[pantheist]] observing statements such as: "The idea that [[God]] is an oversized white male with a flowing beard, who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by 'God,' one means the set of [[physical laws]] that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to [[prayer|pray]] to the law of [[gravity]]."<ref>A similar quote can be found in Chapter 23 of Sagan's book ''[[Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science|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."</ref>
Sagan married three times; the famous biologist, [[Lynn Margulis]] (mother of [[Dorion Sagan]] and [[Jeremy Sagan]]) in 1957, artist [[Linda Salzman Sagan|Linda Salzman]] (mother of [[Nick Sagan]]) in 1968, and author [[Ann Druyan]] (mother of Sasha and Sam) in 1981, to whom he remained married until his death.
[[Isaac Asimov]] described Sagan as one of the only two people he ever met who were just plain smarter than Asimov himself. The other was computer scientist [[Marvin Minsky]].
==Σαγκάν και UFO==
Sagan had some interest in [[UFO]] reports from at least 1964, when he had several conversations on the subject with [[Jacques Vallee]]. (Westrum, p37) Though quite skeptical of any extraordinary answer to the UFO question, Sagan thought that science should study the phenomenon, at least because there was widespread public interest in UFO reports.
[[Stuart Appelle]] notes that Sagan "wrote frequently on what he perceived as the [[logic]]al and [[empiricism|empirical]] [[fallacy|fallacies]] regarding UFOs and the [[abduction phenomenon|abduction experience]]. Sagan rejected an [[extraterrestrial hypothesis|extraterrestrial explanation]] for the phenomenon but felt there were both empirical and [[pedagogical]] benefits for examining UFO reports and that the subject was, therefore, a legitimate topic of study." (Appelle, p 22)
In 1966, Sagan was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee to Review [[Project Blue Book]]. The committee concluded that the U.S. Air Force's [[Project Blue Book]] had been lacking as a scientific study, and recommended a university-based project to give the UFO phenomenon closer scientific scrutiny. The [[Condon Committee]] (1966-1968), lead by physicist [[Edward Condon]], and their still-controversial final report, formally concluded that there was nothing anomalous about UFO reports.
[[Ron Westrum]] writes that "The high point of Sagan's treatment of the UFO question was the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science|AAAS]]'s symposium in 1969. A wide range of educated opinions on the subject were offered by participants, including not only proponents as [[James E. McDonald|James McDonald]] and [[J. Allen Hynek]] but also skeptics like astronomers [[William Hartmann]] and [[Donald Menzel]]. The roster of speakers was balanced, and it is to Sagan's credit that this event was presented in spite of pressure from [[Edward Condon]]." (Westrum, pp. 37-38) With physicist [[Thornton Page]], Sagan edited the lectures and discussions given at the symposium; these were published in 1972 as ''UFO's: A Scientific Debate''
[[Jerome Clark]] writes that Sagan's perspective on UFO's irked Condon: "... though a skeptic, (Sagan) was too soft on UFOs for Condon's taste. In 1971, he considered blackballing Sagan from the prestigious [[Cosmos Club]]". (Clark, p. 603)
Some of Sagan's many books examine UFOs (as did one episode of ''Cosmos'') and he recognized a [[religion|religious]] undercurrent to the phenomenon. However, Westrum writes that "Sagan spent very little time researching UFOs ... he thought that little evidence existed to show that the UFO phenomenon represented alien spacecraft and that the motivation for interpreting UFO observations as spacecraft was emotional." (Westrum, 37)
It is sometimes noted that Sagan's generally skeptical attitude to UFOs conflicted sharply with his views in a 1966 book he wrote with Russian astronomer and astrophysicist [[Iosif Samuilovich Shklovsky|I.S. Shklovskii]], ''Intelligent Life in the Universe''. Here Sagan instead argued that technologically advanced alien civilizations were common and he considered it very probable that Earth had been visited many times in the past.
Yet only a few years later in ''UFO's: A Scientific Debate'', Sagan was now highly skeptical of interstellar visitation. As to the physical possibility of interstellar travel, Sagan brought up the proposed [[Bussard ramjet]] as an interstellar vehicle. While not terribly practical, Sagan thought such proposed propulsion systems were nevertheless important because they demonstrated that there were conceivable ways of accomplishing interstellar travel "without bumping into fundamental physical constraints. And this suggests that it is premature to say that interstellar space flight is out of the question." But to this Sagan added, "I believe the numbers work out in such a way that UFO's as interstellar vehicles is extremely unlikely, but I think it is an equally bad mistake to say that interstellar space flight is impossible."
Sagan was likewise inconsistent in his views on interstellar travel in his 1980 ''Cosmos'' series. When scoffing at the idea that UFOs are visiting Earth, he maintained that the distance between stars was too great to make interstellar travel feasible for aliens. Yet in another episode, he said the stars would "beckon" to humanity, and then again described the Bussard ramjet as one way humans might do it. Sagan realized that there is no evidence that aliens have actually visited the Earth, either in the past or present (Sagan, 1995:81-96, 99-104).
==Πνευματική κληρονομιά==
After a long and difficult fight with [[Myelodysplastic syndrome|myelodysplasia]], Sagan died at the age of 62, on [[December 20]] [[1996]], at the [[Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center]] in [[Seattle, Washington]]. Sagan was a significant figure, and his supporters credit his importance to his popularization of the natural sciences, opposing both restraints on science and reactionary applications of science, defending democratic traditions, resisting nationalism, defending [[humanism]], and arguing against geocentric and anthropocentric views.
The landing site of the unmanned [[Mars Pathfinder]] spacecraft was renamed the ''Carl Sagan Memorial Station'' on [[July 5]] [[1997]]. [[2709 Sagan|Asteroid 2709 Sagan]] is also named in his honor.
The 1997 movie ''Contact'' (see above), based on Sagan's novel of the same name and finished after his death, ends with the dedication "For Carl."
In an episode of [[Star Trek: Enterprise]] entitled "Terra Prime", a quick shot is shown of the relic rover [[Mars Pathfinder|Sojourner]], part of the Mars Pathfinder mission, placed by a historical marker at Carl Sagan Memorial Station on the Martian surface. The marker displays a quote from Sagan: "Whatever the reason you're on Mars, I'm glad you're there, and I wish I was with you."
In 2004, the electronic music group Sagan released the CD/DVD "Unseen Forces." The music was accompanied by a DVD which featured humorous music video format homages of many of the historical sketches from "Cosmos."
==Διακρίσεις==
* [[Apollo Achievement Award]] - [[NASA|National Aeronautics and Space Administration]]
* [[Chicken Little Award|Chicken Little]] Honorable Mention - 1991 - National Anxiety Center; a ''dubious achievement award'' from an organization which is skeptical about many pessimistic appraisals of the state of the environment
* [[NASA Distinguished Service Medal#NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal|NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal]]- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
* [[Emmy]] - Outstanding individual achievement - 1981 - PBS series ''Cosmos''
* Emmy - Outstanding Informational Series - 1981 - PBS series ''Cosmos''
* [[NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal|Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal]] - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
* [[Helen Caldicott Leadership Award]] - Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament
* [[Homer Award]] - 1997 - ''Contact''
* [[Hugo Award]] - 1981 - ''Cosmos''
* [[American Humanist Association#AHA's Humanists of the Year|Humanist of the Year]] - 1981 - awarded by the [[American Humanist Association]]
* [[In Praise of Reason Award]] - 1987 - [[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal]]
* [[Isaac Asimov Award]] - 1994 - [[Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal]]
* [[John F. Kennedy Astronautics Award]] - [[American Astronautical Society]]
* [[John W. Campbell Memorial Award]] - 1974 - ''[[The Cosmic Connection]]''
* [[Klumpke-Roberts Award]] of the [[Astronomical Society of the Pacific]] - 1974
* [[Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Medal]] - awarded by the Soviet Cosmonauts Federation
* [[Locus Award]] 1986 - ''[[Contact (novel)|Contact]]''
* [[Lowell Thomas Award]] - [[Explorers Club]] - 75th Anniversary
* [[Masursky Award]] - [[American Astronomical Society]]
* [[Peabody Award]] - 1980 - PBS series ''Cosmos''
* [[Public Welfare Medal]] - 1994 - [[National Academy of Sciences]]
* [[Pulitzer Prize|Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction]] - 1978 - ''[[The Dragons of Eden]]''
* [[The San Francisco Chronicle#Awards given by the Chronicle|SF Chronicle Award]] - 1998 - ''[[Contact (film)|Contact]]''
* [[Carl Sagan Memorial Award]] - Named in his honor
* Named 99th "[[Greatest American]]" on the [[June 5]] [[2005]] "Greatest American" show on the [[Discovery Channel]].
==Σχετικά βιβλία και πολυμέσα==
*Appelle, Stuart: "[[Ufology]] and [[Academia]]: The UFO Phenomenon as a Scholarly Discipline" (pages 7-30 in ''UFOs and Abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge'', David M. Jacobs, editor; University Press of Kansas, 2000; ISBN)
*Clark, Jeromne: ''The UFO Book'' (1998)
* Sagan, Carl and Jonathon Norton Leonard and editors of Life, ''[[Planets]]''. Time, Inc., 1966
* Sagan, Carl and [[Iosif Samuilovich Shklovskii|I.S. Shklovskii]], ''[[Intelligent Life in the Universe]]''. Random House, 1966
* Sagan, Carl, ''[[Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence]]''. MIT Press, 1973
* Sagan, Carl, et. al. ''[[Mars and the Mind of Man]]''. Harper & Row, 1973
* Sagan, Carl, ''[[Other Worlds]]''. Bantam Books, 1975
* Sagan, Carl, et. al. ''[[Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record]]''. Random House, 1977
* Sagan, Carl et. al. ''[[The Nuclear Winter: The World After Nuclear War]]''. Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985
* Sagan, Carl, ''[[Contact (novel)|Contact]]''. Simon and Schuster, 1985; Reissued August 1997 by Doubleday Books, ISBN 1-56865-424-3, 352 pgs
* Sagan, Carl and Richard Turco, ''[[A Path Where No Man Thought: Nuclear Winter and the End of the Arms Race]]''. Random House, 1990
* Sagan, Carl, ''[[The Dragons of Eden|The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence]]''. Ballantine Books, December 1989, ISBN 0-345-34629-7, 288 pgs
* Sagan, Carl, ''[[Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science]]''. Ballantine Books, October [[1993]], ISBN 0-345-33689-5, 416 pgs
* Sagan, Carl and Ann Druyan, ''[[Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are]]''. Ballantine Books, October 1993, ISBN 0-345-38472-5, 528 pgs
* Sagan, Carl and Ann Druyan, ''[[Comet]]''. Ballantine Books, February 1997, ISBN 0-345-41222-2, 496 pgs
* Sagan, Carl, ''[[Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space]]''. Ballantine Books, September 1997, ISBN 0-345-37659-5, 384 pgs
* Sagan, Carl and Ann Druyan, ''[[Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the End of the Millennium]]''. Ballantine Books, June 1998, ISBN 0-345-37918-7, 320 pgs
* Sagan, Carl, ''[[The Demon-Haunted World|The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark]]''. Ballantine Books, March 1997, ISBN 0-345-40946-9, 480 pgs
* Sagan, Carl and Jerome Agel, ''[[Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective]]''. Cambridge University Press, [[January 15]] [[2000]], ISBN 0-521-78303-8, 301 pgs
* Sagan, Carl, ''[[Cosmos: A Personal Voyage|Cosmos]]''. Random House, [[May 7]] [[2002]], ISBN 0-375-50832-5, 384 pgs
*Westrum, Ron, "Limited Access: Six Natural Scientists and the UFO Phenomenon" (pages 30-55 in Jacobs)
* Zemeckis, Robert, ''[[Contact (film)|Contact]]''. Warner Studios, 1997, [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0118884 IMDB]
* Davidson, Keay, ''[[Carl Sagan: A Life]]''. John Wiley & Sons, [[August 31]] [[2000]], ISBN 0-471-39536-6, 560 pgs
* Head, Tom (editor), ''[[Conversations with Carl Sagan]]''. University Press of Mississippi, 2005, ISBN 1-57806-736-7, 170 pgs
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==Σημειώσεις - παραπομπές==
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