Planetary scientist, dedicated science communicator, and tireless advocate for the humanizing power of science: Carl Sagan was born #OTD in 1934. 🧪 This passage from "The Demon Haunted World" is as prescient as ever. Image: NASA - ThreadSky

mcnees.bsky.social • 107 days ago

Planetary scientist, dedicated science communicator, and tireless advocate for the humanizing power of science: Carl Sagan was born #OTD in 1934. 🧪

This passage from "The Demon Haunted World" is as prescient as ever.

Image: NASA

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rainorshine99.bsky.social•107 days ago

Thank you! Great post today, much appreciated!

The Cosmos tv show was a revelation to me, and my Dad gave me the hardcover book which I still have and he taught me how to use the bibliography as a resource for further reading, and I still have a lot of those books, too!

🌎🌍🌏
(Pale Blue Dot) 😁

rainorshine99.bsky.social•107 days ago

Carl Sagan’s reading about our Pale Blue Dot:

https://youtu.be/wupToqz1e2g?si=hTGcWdYBL48yB_rM

404apathy.bsky.social•107 days ago

Excepting that we did not "slide back" into superstition, we leapt.

sheilaq.bsky.social•107 days ago

Well, that hits close to home.

mewelke.bsky.social•107 days ago

Ought to be a holiday. What do we do on Carl Sagan day? We show Cosmos to the kids and read his books before bed.

andybirss.bsky.social•107 days ago

Listening recently to it (can't read long pieces due to Covid-induced problems) after 28 years I too am struck by the warnings that the good professor included in that book. It does show though that he recognised the path that we were on. Not only in the US I might add but also here in the UK.

mcnees.bsky.social•107 days ago

The weaponization of ignorance was a great concern of Sagan's, and a recurring theme in his writing.

Near the end of his life – now more than twenty years ago – he emphasized two messages which are pretty relevant today.

mcnees.bsky.social•107 days ago

Sagan was a great communicator. And while I think he'd be pleased that we still celebrate his contributions, he would probably be happier to see us elevating new voices.

So if there's someone doing good sci-comm whose work you appreciate, mention them here in the replies for others to follow. 🧪

mattwilkins.galacticpolymath.com•107 days ago

Lots of folks I'd tag aren't on here, so if I can do a shameless plug: I started Galactic Polymath Education Studio amplify diverse scicomm voices & connect academia to K-12. Ex:
▶️https://youtube.com/shorts/9ld42U-SBYY?si=Qh9ljr26LsIlhaKM
🔗https://www.galacticpolymath.com/lessons/en-US/10

psubowler.bsky.social•107 days ago

I absolutely loved @astrokatie.com 's 12-part podcast "The Universe". Very educational run through everything we know about how the universe began and how we think it will end.

mcnees.bsky.social•107 days ago

Anyway, Sagan would have been 90 today. Happy birthday from all of us here on the pale blue dot.

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

feralhattie.bsky.social•107 days ago

Thanks for this mini-bio, Rob. I got a good deal out of it.

johnpalkovic.bsky.social•107 days ago

Khruschev was right. "We do not have to invade the United States, we will destroy you from within."

wolverine08.bsky.social•107 days ago

Was just thinking about this book today and wondering what Dr. Sagan would think about our present situation

happypanda1990.bsky.social•107 days ago

In a way, I'm glad he isn't here to witness it. Maybe he'd have really helped in communicating things to the public, but the world he feared definitely has come a lot closer.

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