Tribute to Carl Sagan (1934-1996) by Jeffrey W. Mason
Jeffrey W. Mason
Volunteer Researcher and Contributor at The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
"We find ourselves on the threshold of a vast and awesome universe that utterly dwarfs--in time, in space, and in potential--the tidy anthropocentric proscenium of our ancestors.?We gaze across billions of light years of space to view the universe shortly after the Big Bang, and plumb the fine structure of matter.?We peer down into the core of our planet and the blazing interior of our star...We uncover hidden chapters in the record of our own origins and with some anguish better understand our nature and prospects. We communicate at the speed of light, and whip around the Earth in an hour and a half.?We have sent dozens of ships to more than seventy worlds and four spacecraft to the stars.?We are right to rejoice in our accomplishments, to be proud that our species has been able to see so far and to judge our merit in part by the very science that has so deflated our pretentions."
Remembering Carl Sagan (Nov. 9, 1934 - Dec. 20, 1996)
Twenty-five years ago today, December 20, 1996, astrophysicist and science popularizer extraordinaire Carl Sagan, one of the key individuals involved in sending four robotic spacecraft (Pioneer 10 and 11 and Voyager 1 and 2) on their way to the stars as emissaries of our human species, passed away at age 62 from pneumonia after being weakened by bone marrow cancer.?Sagan was best known in his role as an expert on planetary science who helped NASA search for microscopic life when Viking became the first unmanned spacecraft to land on Mars on July 20, 1976 and in his role at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, he also assisted in analyzing the first photographs and video footage of the outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.?He wrote a number of popular books on space science, the nuclear war threat, the history of science and other topics, appeared regularly as a guest on Johnny Carson's?Tonight Show?and was best known as the co-creator and host of the popular PBS-TV series?Cosmos?which first aired in September of 1980.?His best selling books included?Contact,?a fictional tale of humankind's first discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence that he cowrote with his wife Ann Druyan, that was later made into a motion picture in 1997 starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey.?Perhaps his most notable lifetime contribution to science and the long-term survival of the human race was his role as one of five authors of the TTAPS study on nuclear winter theory published in the journal?Science?in December 1983.?The article utilized data from dozens of past volcanic events to prove that the explosion of even just a few hundred of the tens of thousands of nuclear weapons possessed by both the Soviet Union and the United States, in a so-called "limited nuclear war" could trigger a significant drop in global temperatures caused by millions of tons of soot, debris, and smoke that such explosions would inject high into Earth's atmosphere causing hundreds of millions (or billions in a full-scale nuclear exchange) to starve to death and probably precipitate the end of our global civilization and possibly cause the extinction of the human race and countless others on our Pale Blue Dot.
"The global balance of terror pioneered by the U.S. and Soviet Union holds hostage all the citizens of the Earth...The hostile military establishments are locked in a ghastly mutual embrace.?Each needs the other.?But the balance of terror is a delicate balance with very little margin for miscalculation.?And the world impoverishes itself by spending a trillion dollars a year on preparations and by employing perhaps half the scientists and high technologists on the planet in military endeavors...We have heard the rationale offered by the superpowers.?We know who speaks for the nations, but who speaks for the human species--who speaks for Earth??From an extraterrestrial perspective, our global civilization is clearly on the edge of failure in the most important task it faces - preserving the lives and well-being of its citizens and the future habitability of the planet.?But if we're willing to live with the growing likelihood of nuclear war, shouldn't we also be willing to explore vigorously every possible means to prevent nuclear war.?We've reached a point where there can be no special interests or special cases - nuclear arms threaten every person on the Earth.?A new consciousness is developing which sees the Earth as a single organism and recognizes that an organism at war with itself is doomed.?We are one planet.?We speak for Earth."??Cosmos?PBS-TV series excerpt?
Carl Sagan's career was very eventful and his biography includes many surprising and little-known facts.?Back in the late 1950s he was consulted by the U.S. military on the impact of exploding nuclear weapons on the Moon.?His thoughtful scientific analysis thankfully convinced those who had routinely tested hundreds of atomic and hydrogen bombs on the surface of islands and deserts, high in the atmosphere, underwater and below ground that disturbing the pristine environment of the Moon might not be a good idea since it could negatively impact future manned exploratory missions to the lunar surface.?In the autumn of 1961 (October 31-November 1), he was one of a select small group of experts to be invited to the first conference on the search for extraterrestrial intelligences in the universe hosted by Frank Drake at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia.?Sagan became, along with Drake, one of the news media's go-to individuals in future decades to discuss ETs, UFOs, and life beyond the Earth in a plethora of television and radio interviews.?Another little-known fact about the Brooklyn-born astrophysicist was that in the mid-1960s he was interviewed by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke and Academy Award-winning producer-director Stanley Kubrick who were in the early stages of creating a masterpiece science fiction film,?2001: A Space Odyssey.??Some say that Sagan convinced the filmmaker and author not to specifically create an alien intelligence on-screen because of all the unknowns involved in such a rendering and that he conveyed the idea that doing so might disappoint not only the viewing public but other scientists and thinkers who have imagined that such a superior intelligence may not credibly be portrayed.
"We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements - transportation, communications, and all other industries; agriculture, medicine, education, entertainment and protecting the environment...profoundly depend on science and technology.?We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology.?This is a prescription for disaster.?We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces."
And now a postscript about this writer's near-miss encounter with Sagan.?In the early 1990s I was working as the research librarian and analyst for the nonprofit Pentagon watchdog organization, The Center for Defense Information, then based at 1500 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. in our nation's capital.?One day Carl Sagan, who must have spoken on the phone to one of the directors of the organization and made an appointment to consult our large collection of open source military and other governmental resources, showed up in our library to perhaps conduct research on the U.S. military's response to his recent publication in 1990 of one of his many books -?Where No Man Thought:?Nuclear Winter and Its Implications.??Unfortunately, that day, I was either on leave or out running errands to obtain a new Pentagon or other think tank report, white paper or press release.?I just missed seeing Professor Sagan.?And I never got a chance to ever see him again in person although of course I caught him on late night TV, or on news programs or on PBS-TV, and continued collecting his books, magazine articles he authored (such as an extended series of?Parade?magazine articles, on preventing nuclear war, exploring the planets in our solar system, and related subject matter).?Alas, as the photograph at the beginning of this tribute attests, I sadly did finally make contact, no pun intended, in 2016 when I found his grave marker at Lake View Cemetery in Ithaca, New York not far from Cornell University where he served as David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences.?May he rest in peace.
"I believe it is healthy--indeed essential--to keep our frailty and fallibility firmly in mind.?I worry about people who aspire to be 'god-like.'?But as for a long-term goal and a sacred project, there is one before us.?On it the very survival of our species depends.?If we have been locked and bolted into a prison of the self, here is an escape hatch--something worthy, something vastly larger than ourselves, a crucial act on behalf of humanity.?Peopling other worlds unifies nations and ethnic groups, binds the generations, and requires us to be both smart and wise.?It liberates our nature and, in part, returns us to our beginnings.?Even now, this new talos is within our grasp...The Cosmos extends, for all practical purposes, forever.?After a brief sedentary hiatus, we are resuming our ancient nomadic way of life.?Our remote descendants, safely arrayed on many worlds through the solar system and beyond, will be unified by their common heritage, by their regard for their home planet, and by the knowledge that, whatever other life may be, the only humans in all the universe come from Earth.?They will gaze up and strain to find the blue dot in their skies.?They will love it no less for its obscurity and fragility. They will marvel at how vulnerable the repository of all our potential once was, how perilous our infancy, how humble our beginning, how many rivers we had to cross before we found our way."??Pale?Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, 1994.
“Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. We speak for Earth. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring.” Carl Sagan Find out more at: Cosmos: A Personal Voyage Music: Heaven and Hell - Vangelis & Time - Hans Zimmer Facebook - facebook ...
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Excerpt from Cosmos 2014 episode 1!
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Tyson's video contains two coincidences, one was that he first met Carl Sagan on Dec. 20, 1975, twenty-one years to the day before his passing and the second was that the book he autographed for Neil was the first ever Sagan book that this writer had ever purchased -?The Cosmic Connection?(1973).
This tribute closes with a half hour long radio interview bio of Carl that includes some of his favorite classical music used as the soundtrack for the?Cosmos?PBS-TV series.
Enjoy this personal interview with Carl Sagan – the American astronomer, scientist, astrophysicist and astrobiologist. Originally broadcast in 1981 as part o...
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Postscript - Most people will acknowledge that a little bit of hero worship is tolerable as long as we don't dwell on the past but look to solve important problems now and in the future that our heroes have made us aware of.?Therefore. I am recommending a few books/articles by living professionals who have built on the accomplishments of past scientists like Carl Sagan, working to educate the public and scientific community not to give up in the extremely difficult global tasks of seriously accelerating humankind's impactful response to climate change and preventing nuclear war (still a major threat during this Cold War II era, unfortunately):
*Adam Frank's 2018 book -?Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth
*A 2021 book by Nicole Stott (retired NASA astronaut) -?Back to Earth: What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet and Our Mission to Protect It?["...the only border (on Earth) that matters is the thin blue line of atmosphere that protects us all from the deadly vacuum of space...this perspective...is the key to peaceful and successful cooperation for all humanity..."]
*Daniel Ellsberg's 2017 book -?Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner?["Ours is not a species to be trusted with nuclear weapons.?Above all, not to be trusted with a full or partial Doomsday Machine.?And that doesn't just apply to "crazy" Third World leaders."]
*Dr.?Robert K. Musil's books -?Rachel Carson and Her Sisters: Extraordinary Women Who Have Shaped America's Environment,?2014 and?Hope for A Heated Planet: How Americans Are Fighting Global Warming and Building a Better Future,?2009
*Alan Robock and Owen B. Toon, "Let's End the Peril of Nuclear Winter,"?New York Times?Op-ed, February 11, 2016
Happy holidays, Happy Chanukah and Have a Healthy, Prosperous 2022
Jeffrey W. Mason, born and raised in Wheeling, West Virginia, has been a published writer for over three decades.??A scriptwriter of the 1995 PBS-TV documentary “Legacy of Hiroshima” produced by America’s Defense Monitor and Azimuth Media, he holds two masters degrees in International Affairs (International Security and Nuclear Strategy focus) from the University of South Carolina and American History from West Virginia University.??He served for over ten years as a research analyst with The Center for Defense Information, a nonprofit Pentagon watchdog organization founded in 1972 by retired U.S. military officers and worked with many notable scholars, military leaders, researchers, and experts including Rear Admiral Eugene Carroll, Jr., Jonathan Schell, author of?The Fate of the Earth, Dr. Helen Caldicott, Dr. Robert K. Musil, president and CEO of The Rachel Carson Council, John Pike, Daniel Ellsberg -?Pentagon Papers?whistleblower, U.S. Navy submarine captain James Bush, Stan Norris of NRDC, Seymour Hersh of?The New?Yorker?and many others.???His television projects include “Nuclear Weapons at Sea,” “Nuclear Threat at Home,” and co-writer of the award-winning “Child Soldiers: Invisible Combatants,” which was screened on Capitol Hill.??He served as a researcher and reference specialist for the Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division, the State Department’s Office of International Information Programs, while also working for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and several nonprofits in the nation’s capital.??He currently lives south of Washington, DC, in southern Maryland, where he teaches history and political science at local institutions of higher learning, and has continued a life-long interest in nuclear weapons strategy, policy, weapons systems, military spending, nuclear winter theory, peace studies, space exploration, and related topics by publishing a monthly/quarterly “This Month/Season in Nuclear Threat History,” which formerly was published in the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s monthly ‘Sunflower’ online newsletter from 2014 to 2020.
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