Carl Sagan - Quodid

About

Carl Sagan was an American astrophysicist. He is best known as a science-popularizer who showed the world the wonders of the scale and complexity of the universe.

Picture of Carl Sagan

Carl Edward Sagan (; SAY-gən; November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. Initially an assistant professor at Harvard, Sagan later moved to Cornell, where he was the David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences and directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. He played an active role in the Mariner, Viking and Voyager programs. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and several popular science books, starting with The Cosmic Connection. He won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for The Dragons of Eden.

Quotes from Carl Sagan

Nobody listens to mathematicians

—Carl Sagan in Cosmos

War is murder writ large.

—Carl Sagan in Cosmos

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Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.

—Carl Sagan in Cosmos

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Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense.

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Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense.

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The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us — there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation as if a distant memory, of falling from a height. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries.

—Carl Sagan in Cosmos

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If we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.

—Carl Sagan in Cosmos

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A googolplex is precisely as far from infinity as is the number 1... no matter what number you have in mind, infinity is larger still.

—Carl Sagan in Cosmos

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The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion and politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no place in the endeavor of science.

—Carl Sagan in Cosmos

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The neurochemistry of the brain is astonishingly busy, the circuitry of a machine more wonderful than any devised by humans. But there is no evidence that its functioning is due to anything more than the 1014 neural connections that build an elegant architecture of consciousness.

—Carl Sagan in Cosmos

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There is no other species on the Earth that does science. It is, so far, entirely a human invention, evolved by natural selection in the cerebral cortex for one simple reason: it works. It is not perfect. It can be misused. It is only a tool. But it is by far the best tool we have, self-correcting, ongoing, applicable to everything. It has two rules. First: there are no sacred truths; all assumptions must be critically examined; arguments from authority are worthless. Second: whatever is inconsistent with the facts must be discarded or revised. We must understand the Cosmos as it is and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be.

—Carl Sagan in Cosmos

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In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know, that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they actually change their minds, and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.

All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.

It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English — up to fifty words used in correct context — no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese.

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The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.

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Books

Carl Sagan has the following books quoted on Quodid: