Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan: A “Cosmos” Master

The mirrored serving tray made the schmear-covered bread pieces appear fancier than they actually were. My unofficial motto as the newly appointed NASA Administrator was “Faster, Better, Cheaper.” But this hors d'oeuvre platter only hit two of the three. Since my entire entertainment budget for the year was $12,000, I couldn’t justify spending a lot of money for one guest. Even if that guest was renowned scientist and media personality Carl Sagan.?

Given how our first interaction had gone (and his recent comments about my taking over the NASA role), I felt that our meeting might be a bit contentious. I turned out to be correct about that, but eventually Carl and I were able to move past our differences to become more than just good colleagues – we became friends.

Carl Sagan was born in New York City in 1934 and was fascinated with science from a young age. He had a specific interest in the possibility of intelligent life existing on other planets and won a high school essay contest where he speculated that if humans ever did make contact with species on other planets, it could end in disaster. Despite this, his early career focused on research in the controversial field of SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence), and his work brought extensive innovation to that area.

In 1968, he became the director of Cornell University’s Laboratory for Planetary Studies. Later, he helped choose the Mars landing sites for the Viking probes, and he codesigned the messages that were attached to the Pioneer and Voyager probes that were launched out of the solar system. That accomplishment held a special significance because as a child he had witnessed the burial of a time capsule at the 1939 New York World’s Fair and became thrilled with the idea of leaving something behind for those in the future to learn about inhabitants from the past.

Carl’s fascination with space led him to take on many roles throughout his life: astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, professor, and science communicator. It was this last role that allowed him to gain worldwide acclaim. He had a special ability to communicate the beauty of science to a broad population.?

In 1980 he created “Cosmos”, a limited TV series that explored the origin of life and other scientific concepts. It was highly regarded for its special effects and music and went on to win two Emmys and a Peabody Award. One of the co-creators was Ann Druyan, who Carl would marry the next year.?

I was a fan of “Cosmos” and Carl’s other works, so when I saw that he was giving a lecture in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, I knew I had to attend.

He was a very thin, tall (about 6’ 4”), nice-looking man, and of course very intelligent – a Bohemian in a turtleneck. This was during the height of the Cold War, and his speech covered his concerns of a nuclear holocaust and mutually assured destruction. And there I sat in the audience, an executive at TRW (which later became Northrop Grumman) working on systems designed to warn Americans of incoming Russian ballistic missiles… as well as developing missiles that were in return aimed back at Russia.?

After his speech, I introduced myself and politely told him what I did for a living. He noticeably stiffened up, and though I used humor to try to get him to view me not as an adversary but rather as just another human, it was safe to say that had that been our only encounter, he would not have remembered me fondly.

A Scientific Debate Turned Lifelong Friendship

I wouldn’t meet Carl Sagan again for almost ten years, shortly after I was sworn in as the new NASA Administrator at the beginning of April 1992. NASA had had several public failures in the years preceding my appointment. In route to Jupiter, the Galileo spacecraft’s High Gain Antenna failed to fully open, causing only 70% of the $3 billion mission’s objectives to be fulfilled. The $5 billion Hubble telescope was launched only for it to be discovered that it couldn’t see anything until a “contact lens” was added.?

On top of this, President Bush Sr. and Congress made it clear that NASA’s budget was going to have to go flat for the next decade, meaning we would have to absorb any inflation and learn to do more with less. Thus my motto was born: “ Faster. Better, Cheaper.”?

Carl Sagan wasn’t privy to this information, so he didn’t understand (and wasn’t happy with) my public comments about future NASA projects, particularly when I said that the budget for Cassini (designed to land a probe on Titan, one of Saturn’s moons) needed to “go on a diet.” In his mind, I was just another political appointee who didn’t understand science.?

So I invited Carl to visit my office so we could each share our perspectives, and I had the hors d'oeuvre platter prepared in an attempt to smooth things over.? It didn’t help much. Carl was very stiff when he entered, and even after sitting he looked uncomfortable, as if he were on hot coals. Although we found several points we agreed on, he also accused me of destroying science. I suggested that instead of arguing here, we should have a public debate in front of a scientific audience, which he accepted.

To read more about our public scientific debate organized by the Planetary Society in 1992, you can read the full story here. Carl was truly dedicated to achieving beyond, and I hope that others will be inspired to do the same.

And, if you are feeling as nostalgic as I am today, head over to my youtube channel and watch a few of my favorite Cosmos episodes that showcase the very best of Mr. Carl Sagan, who can only be defined as a scientific legend.