On that note, Sagan never really said “billions of billions.” A “ Sagan” is defined as a large quantity of something, at least four billion. Sagan’s “billions of billions” was later (jokingly) turned into a unit. There is a unit of measurement named after him.

Bill Nye remembers the lessons fondly, “If you saw the series Cosmos,” he says' “his lectures were like those television shows.Ĩ. When Bill Nye was a student at Cornell, he took a class with Carl Sagan. Bill Nye, the Science Guy, was a former student of Carl Sagan. In Star Trek: Enterprise, there is a plaque on Mars dedicated to the Carl Sagan Memorial Station. The astronomer was memorialized in many popular TV shows and movies. Both satellites carry a gold phonograph record containing a collection of sounds from Earth, including music and greetings from 59 different languages. He came up with the universal message sent out on the Voyager satellites.Ĭarl Sagan is credited with the idea to send a message out into the Universe on the Voyager Missions. He compared the greenhouse effect of Venus's atmosphere to Earth's and warned that contributing to Earth's greenhouse effect could lead to something similarly catastrophic in our future. Sagan studied the climate of Venus as the subject of his Ph.D. He was an early defender of climate science. Also a part of the library of Congress is a collection of more than a thousand boxes of Sagan's research and materials, funded by Family Guy Creator Seth McFarland.Ĥ. These early drafts still exist in the Library of Congress. He wrote 20 drafts of his book, Pale Blue Dot. This led to Sagan's hiring at Cornell University, where he remained for the rest of his career. Harvard denied Sagan tenure in 1967.Īfter spending five years as an assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy, Harvard University rejected Sagan's application for tenure. He even credited the drug for some of his most profound inspirations in art, science, and music. He supported the legalization of marijuana.Ĭarl Sagan wrote an essay for Time Magazine under a pseudonym outlining the benefits of marijuana. To celebrate Sagan's life and legacy on his birthday, here are ten facts you may not know about the legendary astronomer. His show, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, was the most-watched show on PBS for ten years. He would go on to become one of the most influential voices in astronomy, earning 22 honorary degrees from US colleges and universities and publishing over 600 scientific articles throughout his lifetime. Carl Sagan was born November 9, 1934, 87 years ago today.

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