Carl Sagan relaxes outside Statler Hall on campus in this 1994 photo. Michael Okoniewski, Copyright © 1994
The Cornell community will gather in tribute to the memory of Carl Sagan, the David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences and director of Cornell's Laboratory for Planetary Studies, at a special service Monday, Feb. 3, at 2 p.m. in Bailey Hall.
Sagan, 62, died of pneumonia on Dec. 20 in Seattle, after a two-year battle with a bone marrow disease.
The memorial will begin with a 15-minute video of highlights from Sagan's PBS -TV series, Cosmos, the Emmy- and Peabody-award-winning show that became the most watched series in public-television history. Several faculty members and friends, including President Hunter Rawlings and President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes, will speak at the event, which is open to the public.
Following the announcement of Sagan's death in December, condolences poured in from Ithaca and around the world by fax, e-mail, telephone and letter.
"The entire Cornell community mourns the loss of our colleague Carl Sagan, the David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences," said President Rawlings. "A gifted scholar and researcher, Carl Sagan inspired thousands of students here in Ithaca and across the world to open their minds to the wonders of science and the universe. Through his writings and television productions, he brought the excitement and challenges of scientific discovery into the homes of millions of families here and abroad. He used these talents effectively in the public sector, becoming a major force in support not only of planetary exploration but also in behalf of environmental protection here on Earth. We will sorely miss him, but his legacy at Cornell will last for generations to come. Our thoughts go out to his wife and collaborator, Ann Druyan, and the entire Sagan family."
Yervant Terzian, the James A. Weeks Professor of Physical Sciences and chairman of the Department of Astronomy, joined friends, colleagues and relatives in a tribute to Carl Sagan at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art on Dec. 23, following a graveside service. Charles Harrington/University Photography
Said his colleague Yervant Terzian, the James A. Weeks Professor of Physical Sciences and chair of the department: "Carl was a candle in the dark. He was, quite simply, the best science educator in the world this century. He touched hundreds of millions of people and inspired young generations to pursue the sciences. He will be deeply missed by his colleagues and friends at Cornell and around the world."
The loss also was felt strongly by his students.
"I think he got great pleasure from letting other people understand and appreciate the wonders of science," said Peter Wilson, doctoral student under Sagan who is studying production of organic matter in the solar system. "He was in awe of science and he loved to open people's eyes to that."
Sagan had his own way of imparting knowledge to the next generation of astronomy professors.
"The way he explained it was you should put yourself in your students' place," Wilson said. "Imagine not knowing what you now know, and try to remember the excitement you felt when it finally clicked. Try to convey that wonder, that thrill to your students. And that's what he did."
Sagan was the reason he came to Cornell for doctoral studies, Wilson said.
Sagan's upper-level undergraduate class on Critical Thinking was among the most popular courses on campus, because of its professor's style and rapport with students. "There was a lot of interaction between students and Carl," Wilson said. "It was basically a throwback to the Socratic method, not a rigid lecture course like you find elsewhere. Students loved it."
The undergraduate class that Sagan was scheduled to teach this semester, Astronomy 202: "Our Home in the Solar System," will be co-taught by Terzian and James Cordes, professor of astronomy, in Sagan's honor. One of the texts the professors will use is Sagan's 1995 book, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space.
At a tribute in Sagan's memory Dec. 23, Terzian said: "It is not going to be the same without Carl. I will not be able to discuss science questions with him; I will not be able to call him for advice. Just a few weeks ago, in a class Paul Goldsmith and I were teaching about life on other planets, we had a guest speaker from SETI . . . and Carl came into the class, and the students looked and were the proudest students that Cornell ever had."
Cornell President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes delivered a eulogy at the graveside service. "How do you begin to describe the complexity, the breadth and the achievements of this remarkable man," Rhodes said, "an astronomer with the words of a poet; a teacher with the voice and flair of a great actor; a tough-minded critic, with a deeply-embedded sense of idealism; a critical, rigorous scientist but with the conscience of a humanist?"
At the tribute, Rhodes added: "We, all of us, have lost a friend who will never be replaced. We gather to say we love him. Nobody can capture the breadth of Carl Sagan. Humankind were his students; the universe was his interest."
Christopher Chyba, a former Sagan student, now an astronomer at the University of Arizona, said that of all the things Sagan would have wanted to leave in this world, none was more important than the legacy of kindness. "We should all try harder to be kind. That was the message he left," Chyba said.
During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books, including The Dragons of Eden (1977), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1978. The U.S. paperbound edition of his book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space appeared on best-seller lists worldwide and was selected as one of the "notable books of 1995" by The New York Times. His reading of an abridged audiocassette version was nominated for a Grammy and was cited by Publisher's Weekly as one of the "two best audiobooks of the year."
Last year, he published The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (Random House), which became Sagan's eighth New York Times bestseller. With his wife, Ann Druyan, he was co-producing a major motion picture from Warner Brothers based on his novel Contact. The movie is due to be released this year.
Carl Edward Sagan was born Nov. 9, 1934, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He received a bachelor's degree in 1955 and a master's degree in 1956, both in physics, and a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics in 1960, all from the University of Chicago. He taught at Harvard University in the early 1960s before coming in 1968 to Cornell, where he became a full professor in 1971.
Sagan played a leading role in NASA's Mariner, Viking, Voyager and Galileo expeditions to other planets. He received NASA medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and twice for Distinguished Public Service and the NASA Apollo Achievement Award.
His research focused on topics such as the greenhouse effect on Venus; windblown dust as an explanation for the seasonal changes on Mars; organic aerosols on Titan, one of Saturn's moons; the long-term environmental consequences of nuclear war; and the origin of life on Earth. A pioneer in the field of exobiology, he continued to teach graduate and undergraduate students in courses in astronomy and space sciences and in critical thinking at Cornell.
The breadth of Sagan's interests were made evident in October 1994, at a Cornell-sponsored symposium in honor of his 60th birthday. The two-day event featured speakers in areas of planetary exploration, life in the cosmos, science education, public policy and government regulation of science and the environment -- all fields in which Sagan had worked or had a strong interest.
Sagan was the recipient of numerous of awards in addition to his NASA recognition. He received 22 honorary degrees from American colleges and universities for his contributions to science, literature, education and the preservation of the environment and many awards for his work on the long-term consequences of nuclear war and reversing the nuclear arms race.
Among his other awards were: the John F. Kennedy Astronautics Award of the American Astronautical Society; the Explorers Club 75th Anniversary Award; the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Medal of the Soviet Cosmonauts Federation and the Masursky Award of the American Astronomical Society. He also was the recipient in 1994 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 was elected chairman of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, president of the Planetology Section of the American Geophysical Union and chairman of the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. For 12 years he was editor of Icarus, the leading professional journal devoted to planetary research.
He was co-founder of The Planetary Society, a 100,000-member organization and the largest space-interest group in the world. Sagan also was Distinguished Visiting Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and was contributing editor of Parade magazine, where he published many articles about science and, most recently, about the disease that he had battled for the past two years.
Sagan is survived by his wife and collaborator, Ann Druyan; his sister, Cari Sagan Greene; five children, Dorion, Jeremy, Nicholas, Alexandra and Sam; and a grandson, Tonio. He was interred at Lakeview Cemetery in Ithaca.
Carl Sagan, with help from his friends and colleagues in the Cornell community, celebrated his 60th birthday during a 1994 campus banquet, which was part of a two-day symposium in his honor. Charles Harrington/University Photography