Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Carl Sagan Week

Carl Sagan week is fast approaching.  He was born on November 9, 1934.  Few scientists are known for anything.  To be a celeberty scientist you have to have done something according to Daniel Boorstin.  Carl promoted science, reason, rationality and critical thinking.  He was an author whose very writings have layed the foundation for todays skeptical movement, such as "The Demon-Haunted World; Science as a Candle in the Dark".  His Baloney Detection kit is now a part of the tools that we as skeptics use to ferret out truth from baloney.  He was eloquent in his speech and manner, though some have said he was arrogant, but he made the common person understand science.  This he did very well in his award winning series "Cosmos", which I am very happy to say I have a copy. His scientific accomplishments are too many to list as a respected and capable astronomer.  I can remember him coming on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and he made me excited about science and the mystries of the universe.  The possibilities were never far behind and were as infinite as the cosmos itself.  He brought reflective thinking into the discussion also.  Nothing can better illustrate this point than his book and later the movie "Contact".  The later he got to see fininshed as a movie before he died of pancreatic cancer on December 20. 1996.  So if he was arrogant I can forgive him and think that he deserved to be proud of what he accomplished.  So let us remember Carl and be proud that we are reaching for the cosmos on the shoulders of a giant.

Peace
Skeptical DoDo

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