Parts of four of the chapters in this book were written with my wife and long-time collaborator, Ann Druyan, who is also the elected Secretary of the Federation of American Scientists – an organization founded in 1945 by the original Manhattan Project scientists to monitor the ethical use of science and high technology. She has also provided enormously helpful guidance, suggestions and criticism on content and style throughout the book and at every stage of writing it over the course of nearly a decade. I have learned from her more than I can say. I know how lucky I am to find in the same person someone whose advice and judgement, sense of humour and courageous vision I so much admire, who is also the love of my life.
About the Author
Dr Carl Sagan is a recent 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 … No one has ever succeeded in conveying the wonder, excitement and joy of science as widely as Carl Sagan and few as well. His ability to capture the imagination of millions and to explain difficult concepts in understandable terms is a magnificent achievement’).
A Pulitzer Prize winner, Dr Sagan is the author of many bestsellers, including Cosmos, which became the most widely read science book ever published in the English language. The accompanying Emmy and Peabody award-winning television series became the most widely watched series in the history of American television until then, and has now been seen by 500 million people in 60 countries. He is currently the David Ducan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences at Cornell University; Distinguished Visiting Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology; and co-founder and president of The Planetary Society, the largest space-interest group in the world.
Dr Sagan has played a leading role in the American space programme since its inception, and in solving many enigmas about the planets.
The American Association of Physics Teachers, in giving him its Oersted Medal, included the following citation: ‘Carl Sagan has . . . acknowledged the responsibility of the scientist to call to the public’s attention important and difficult national policy issues related to science such as the arms race, nuclear proliferation, and environmental concerns like the greenhouse effect and the ozone layer. As a debater who acted always in a thoughtful manner towards those with contrary views, he has sought to raise the intellectual and moral level of the discussion and greatly increased the public’s awareness of these vital issues . . . The Oersted Medal, given for notable contributions to the teaching of physics, is the highest honor the A APT can bestow on an individual. Carl Sagan, master communicator and teacher in the broadest and deepest sense of the word, brings honor to the award.’
Canada’s Queens University, in presenting Dr Sagan with one of his twenty-two honorary degrees, commented: ‘[Carl Sagan is an] awesomely gifted astrophysicist and arguably science’s best living literary stylist … As readers, we appreciate his implicit confidence in our intelligence and interest, his illuminating insights and his playful wit. As a community of scholars, we acknowledge with admiration his relentless pursuit of the really big questions . . . and the twin philosophies by which he lives and teaches: that “Science is never finished” and that “We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers.”