The accompanying Emmy and Peabody award-winning television series has been seen by 500 million people in 60 countries. Sagan was the author of many bestsellers, including Cosmos, which became the best-selling science book ever published in the English language. He was the co-founder and first President of The Planetary Society and a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.Ī Pulitzer Prize winner, Dr.

Sagan served as Chairman of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, as President of the Planetology Section of the American Geophysical Union, and as Chairman of the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.įor 12 years he was Editor in Chief of Icarus, the leading professional journal devoted to planetary research. His ability to capture the imagination of millions and to explain difficult concepts in understandable terms is a magnificent achievement.'ĭr. 'Carl Sagan has been enormously successful in communicating the wonder and importance of science. Many of the most productive planetary scientists working today are his present and former students and associates.' He is also the 1994 recipient of the Public Welfare Medal, the highest award of the National Academy of Sciences for 'distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare.' Sagan made seminal contributions to the study of planetary atmospheres, planetary surfaces, the history of the Earth, and exobiology. As a scientist trained in both astronomy and biology, Dr. '.for his extraordinary contributions to the development of planetary science.

Kennedy Astronautics Award of the American Astronautical Society, the Explorers Club 75th Anniversary Award, the Konstantin Tsiolokovsky Medal of the Soviet Cosmonautics Federation, and the Masursky Award of the American Astronomical Society: Sagan received the NASA Medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and for Distinguished Public Service twice, as well as the NASA Apollo Achievement Award.Īsteroid 2709 Sagan is named after him. He helped solve the mysteries of the high temperature of Venus (a massive greenhouse effect), the seasonal changes on Mars (windblown dust) and the reddish haze of Titan (complex organic molecules).įor his work, Dr. He was a consultant and adviser to NASA beginning in the 1950s, he briefed the Apollo astronauts before their flights to the Moon, and was an experimenter on the Mariner, Viking, Voyager, and Galileo expeditions to the planets. Carl Sagan played a leading role in the American space program since its inception.

Cosmos sagan