Carl Sagan: astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, skeptic, and visionary. The middle of the twentieth century was clad in scientific advancements that opened up the realm of our universe to the world. At the head of this exploration was Carl Sagan, a pioneer of sorts. Aside from his countless contributions to the scientific community, he backed a new understanding of the cosmos to the more pedestrian population of the world.
Sagan has said himself that he got his analytical urges to Rachel Molly Gruber Sagan, his mother. She was an oppressed intellectual who never met her full potential due to the bigotries against the poor, the Jewish, and women. There was not much known about Rachel’s family, though it was rumored that her father Leib Gruber was a murderer. When Rachel was eight, her father sent her to live with relatives in Austria, but when they were put up with her they sent Rachel to New York, back to her father. Rachel grew up poor in New York City, nearly homeless without much care from the likes of her family. Rachel spoiled Carl and later on lived through his intellectual success that she had never had the chance to achieve. Sagan’s father Sam Sagan has an even more obscure past. Sam was born on March 2nd of 1905 in Ukraine and came to America five years later. Unlike Rachel, Sam would have been happy with an average child, and though he admired his son’s intellect, he longed for a typical American family (Keay 1-6).
Sagan was born on November 9th of 1934 in Brooklyn New York. The Sagan family was on of modest income and lived in an apartment in Bensonhurst. Sagan was raised as a reformed Jew, though as an adult he labeled himself as Atheist. As a child Sagan embodied to personalities, one o...
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...g up the phone, they were engaged. AS they continued to craft the Golden Record Dryan had the idea that they record the electrical impulses of the brain and nervous system and turn those impulses to sound waves. When Druyan went to have her brain activity recorded, she says she meditated the whole time on her love for Sagan (Abumrad).
Works Cited
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Morrison, David. "Carl Sagan’s Life and Legacy as Scientist, Teacher, and Skeptic." - CSI. CSICOP, Feb. 2007. Web. 06 May 2014.
Davidson, Keay. "Chapter 1: Brooklyn." Carl Sagan: A Life. N.p.: John Wiley & Sons, 1999. N. pag. Print.
"Carl Sagan." 2014. The Famous People website. May 26 2014, 09:18
Sagan, Carl (January 5, 1995). An Interview with Carl Sagan. (Interview).Charlie Rose. PBS. New York.
Hoyle, Fred From Stonehenge to Modern Cosmology San Francisco 1972 On Stonehenge San Francisco 1977
Sagan starts his story by talking about the troubling fact that so many people in this world are scientifically illiterate. It is estimated that 95% of people are scientifically
Science. It’s one of the most, if not the most important area of our society and our culture. But what is science, without communicators to pass on the knowledge we gain from it? Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of these people. He plays a key role in the future development of science and technology by provoking a new generation to learn to love science, and to leap into the STEM fields. Tyson has and will continue to inspire countless children and adults alike, including myself.
Villanueva, John. "Force of Gravity." Universe Today RSS. Universe Today, 19 July 2009. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
Hawking, Stephen. “Our Picture of the Universe.” Fields of Reading. 6th ed. Ed. Nancy R. Comely et al. New York: St. Martin’s, 2001. (565-574)
Sagan, Carl. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. New York: Random, 1996.
White, Michael and Gribbin, John. Einstein: A Life in Science. Amazon.com: Editorial Review: Kirkus Review. 30 Oct. 2003 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos.
At a young age it was apparent that he was scientifically inclined. In school, he was interested in all things scientific and loved math. At one point he even gave thought to becoming a mathematician. After high school, he went to MIT to study physics, and after four years of that he went to Princeton as a graduate student. During this time in his life, he became engaged to his high school sweetie, Arline Greenbaum. Halfway into his education at Princeton, Arline was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and was not given many years to live. So Richard married her and put his doctoral thesis on hold.
Richard Feynman was born on May 11, 1918 in Brooklyn to Lucille and Melville Feynman. Feynman's childhood home was in the community of Far Rockaway, in the outskirts if Manhattan.
Informative Speech Scientists Einstein and Heisenberg A. Introduction My Speech is about the scientists who had the main influence on our current time and have shaped our contemporary view of the world (Also called in Theology the "Zeitgeist"). I have chosen two of them who are in many ways just opposites. One is extremely famous and the other is almost unknown, except to specialists. The most famous is, of course, Albert Einstein.
As a child, Sagan avidly read science-fiction novels from authors such as H.G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Sagan "used to scour the entire library looking for anything that had to do with science, he was addicted to the subject at an early age" (Byman 5). This penchant for the sciences helped Sagan to excel at math and science in school, which eventually led him to major in astronomy in college.
Coursey, David. “Nobel Physics Winners Changed Our Lives” PC World. 6 Oct. 2009. 25 Sept. 2010. .
Of all the scientists to emerge from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there is one whose name is known by almost all living people. While most of these do not understand this mans work, everyone knows that his impact on the world is astonishing.
Nicolaus Copernicus’ contributions to astronomy and physics proved to be pivotal in sparking a change in the existing views of the universe. Born in Poland in 1473, Copernicus’ parents died before he reached the age of 12. His uncle then raised him and Copernicus went on to study canon law, medicine and astronomy. His education proved that he had a well-rounded view of the universe that included both religious and scientific facets as he earned doctorate degrees in canon law and medicine. With his education he continued a lifelong service to the church and to science. He used an astronomical tower, a moon and sun tracking device and an astrolabe to develop a revolutionary heliocentric view of the universe. For many years scientists descri...
Galileo was probably the greatest astronomer, mathematician and scientist of his time. In fact his work has been very important in many scientific advances even to this day.