Carl Sagan

[CybrSlydr]

Died today in 1996.

Truly a loss - forget the likes of John Lennon and all those people. Sagan was truly a loss to the human race.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc)

I would love to have the 70s era Sagan alive today, to do a Cosmos show with current technology/knowledge. That would be amazing.

The man was certainly enthusiastic.

[Ickie]

He was my favorate spaceman

[Cazzie]

He and Timothy Ferris were/are the best there ever were/are at explaining the Cosmos to laymen. And his delivery made it all the more enticing.

Caz

[jmig]

He was a genius. He could explain the most complex ideas in simple laymen terms.

[Aviator32]

A great quote from his last wife -


“When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me - it still sometimes happens - and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous - not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance… That pure chance could be so generous and so kind… That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time… That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful… The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.”

[jmig]

A great quote from his last wife -

“When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me - it still sometimes happens - and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous - not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance… That pure chance could be so generous and so kind… That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time… That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful… The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.”




The thing I like about her statement is NOT whether there is a God or not, which we will not be discussing in this thread :), but it is the love they obviously shared. That to me is wonderful.

[Aviator32]

The thing I like about her statement is NOT whether there is a God or not, which we will not be discussing in this thread :), but it is the love they obviously shared. That to me is wonderful.

Absolutely. He was a lucky man. He was also agnostic so there's not much to discuss on that score!

[Toastmaker]

She makes a lot of sense, of course, just like he did.



:running:

[hubbabubba]

Died today in 1996.

Truly a loss - forget the likes of John Lennon and all those people. Sagan was truly a loss to the human race.

I would love to have the 70s era Sagan alive today, to do a Cosmos show with current technology/knowledge. That would be amazing.

The man was certainly enthusiastic.

I do miss Carl Sagan - I still have his COSMOS series on VHS -, but I also miss John Lennon. They both had something to offer to the world. Art and science are not opposing sides, they are often walking hand in hand. If Carl and John were still with us, I'm sure they would agree with me.

[Naismith]

Yes a giant loss, but the baton has been picked up to a certain extent by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Phil Plaitt and several others.

[TARPSBird]

Everybody should live their lives with as much affection and caring support as his wife described.

[deKoven]

Yes a giant loss, but the baton has been picked up to a certain extent by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Phil Plaitt and several others.

I'm not as much for Tyson as I am for Michio Kaku who, to my mind, is nearly as good as Sagan. But most all of these mentioned have the gift of being able to talk, on the air, to people and not make them feel lost or stupid. The only physics person I ever knew was so abstruse in conversation that he lost me after the 2nd or 3rd sentence.

[CybrSlydr]

I'm also a fan of Kaku - I've read a few of his books, good stuff!

All Lennon did was make being a hippie cool. :a1451:

[Aviator32]

You used to be able to get hold of Richard Feynman lectures on CD. You can still get them in print. They are mind blowing and very funny. Sagan was interesting but Feynman really was a genius.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqB_tOmg2OQ&feature=related

Of course neither Feynman or Sagan wrote very good songs!

[Bjoern]

All Lennon did was make being a hippie cool. :a1451:

Also, thanks to his wife, I can call my pals' girlfriends "Yoko Onos". They totally tore my circle of friends apart. Heck, I haven't seen some of the guys in an awfully long time!

[Bushpounder]

I would say that many more people around the world knew who John Lennon was than who Carl Sagen was.

Don

[Naismith]

Of course neither Feynman or Sagan wrote very good songs!


Not strictly true
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrZTQo8RFUw

[CybrSlydr]

I would say that many more people around the world knew who John Lennon was than who Carl Sagen was.

Don

Because one's popularity is directly proportional to the perceived worth of said person.

[Bushpounder]

Comparing John Lennon to Sagan is apples and oranges anyhow. I don't even know why I got involved in a Ford - Chevy debate. Have a nice night, everyone!

Don

[hubbabubba]

(...)

All Lennon did was make being a hippie cool. :a1451:

That's probably why Carl Sagan was smoking pot and got arrested for marching for peace. This English dude had some bad influence...:kilroy:

[CybrSlydr]

That's probably why Carl Sagan was smoking pot and got arrested for marching for peace. This English dude had some bad influence...:kilroy:

There's a lot more to being a hippie than smoking pot and marching, man.

[Aviator32]

There's a lot more to being a hippie than smoking pot and marching, man.

Don't believe everything your grandparents told you!

[Bjoern]

There's a lot more to being a hippie than smoking pot and marching, man.

Listening to The Doors and Jefferson Airplane while getting high?

[hubbabubba]

There's a lot more to being a hippie than smoking pot and marching, man.

Being what, 26 according to the site, you probably know more about hippies than someone who was often called one when hippies existed for real.

That you feel compelled to debase the memory of a great man, dead six years before you started wetting diapers, to recall the memory of another great man is beyond puzzling.

There is a lot more to John Lennon than being a cool hippie, man.

On that: give peace a chance.

[Bushpounder]

Being what, 26 according to the site, you probably know more about hippies than someone who was often called one when hippies existed for real.

That you feel compelled to debase the memory of a great man, dead six years before you started wetting diapers, to recall the memory of another great man is beyond puzzling.

There is a lot more to John Lennon than being a cool hippie, man.

On that: give peace a chance.

I agree with your statement 110%!! I was finished with this thread, but you hit my opinion dead on.

Don

[hubbabubba]

I agree with your statement 110%!! I was finished with this thread, but you hit my opinion dead on.

Don

I'm also finished with this thread Bushpounder. And I prefer Ford over Chevy... :icon_lol:

[CybrSlydr]

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103809/hippie-infestation

[jmig]

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103809/hippie-infestation

I fail to see the significance of Southpark skits and Hippies to Carl Sagan. This turn the thread has taken, in my opinion, diminishes the memory of a great scientist and teacher. I do not like closing threads, however, if this line of posting continues, I will close the thread.

[Naismith]

I fail to see the significance of Southpark skits and Hippies to Carl Sagan. This turn the thread has taken, in my opinion, diminishes the memory of a great scientist and teacher. I do not like closing threads, however, if this line of posting continues, I will close the thread.


Here here, On the subject of Carl Sagan (again) I should point out his book "A Candle in the Dark"
which although written crica 94/96 is still very relevant today and should be req'd reading in all High Schools. Grown ups too.

[jmig]

Carl Sagan's Borca's Brain was one of the most influential books on human development I have ever read.