The Carl Sagan Lecture
An Annual Lecture at the Fall AGU Meeting
The Planetary Sciences and Biogeosciences Sections of AGU and the Planetary Society jointly sponsor the Sagan lecture. It is presented annually by a prominent scientist at the Fall AGU meeting who addresses issues in Astrobiology and the development of life on Earth. With the lecture, we honor Carl Sagan as a scientist, educator, and critical thinker who brilliantly combined the disciplines of biology, physics and planetary science in his work, and who inspired countless young people to pursue the study of the Earth and other planets.
Carl Edward Sagan was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1934. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Physics from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Chicago. After teaching briefly at Harvard University in the early 1960s, he returned to Cornell, where he was a professor from 1971 until his death in December 1996.
Sagan’s broad research interests encompassed the study of planetary surfaces, atmospheres and climates, and the history and origin of life on Earth. He was a pioneer in the field of exobiology, and played a leading role in establishing the Search for Intelligent Life Elsewhere (SETI), as well as in NASA's Pioneer , Mariner, Viking, Voyager and Galileo expeditions to other planets. During his career, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and is author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books. His impact continues through the work of numerous students and collaborators, and through his remarkable legacy among millions of ordinary citizens throughout the world.
Sagan was arguably the most well known scientist on the planet by the time of his death at age 62. He achieved enormous impact by communicating the excitement and wonder of science to the public through popular books and television programs. Cosmos spent 15 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was the best-selling science book ever published in the English language. The Emmy- and Peabody- award winning television series by the same name was seen by over half a billion people in 60 countries. The topics on which he wrote included the possibility of finding life on other planets, the evolution of human life and thought, the role of science in debunking fraud, and nuclear winter.
Sagan served as President of the Planetary Sciences Section of AGU in 1980-1982. He also was elected chairman of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society and of the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He founded and served as the first President of The Planetary Society. For 12 years he was editor of Icarus, a professional journal devoted to planetary research. He was a founding member and Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and a member of the Council for Secular Humanism's International Academy of Humanism. Among the many awards Sagan received were the NASA Medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and Distinguished Public Service, the Pulitzer Prize (for The Dragons of Eden), the AAAS Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology, the Masursky Award from the American Astronomical Society, the Oersted Award, and the Public Welfare Medal, awarded by the National Academy of Sciences for "distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare.”
More Links:
2009 and previous Sagan Lectures
Carl Sagan on Wikipedia
Carl Sagan's Cosmos on Wikipedia