Happy Birthday, Carl Sagan

Today is the birthday of my science boyfriend Carl Sagan. It's hard to narrow down what I want to say about him, or pick a favorite quote, because how can you say that this:

There was a time when the stars seemed an impenetrable mystery, but today we have begun to understand them. In our personal lives, also, we journey from ignorance to knowledge. Our individual growth reflects the advancement of the species. The exploration of the cosmos is a voyage of self-discovery.

is more inspiring than this?

Even The Writer's Almanac gave him a mention today:

Because he had done extensive research on nearby planets, NASA hired him as an advisor for a mission to send remote-controlled spacecrafts to Venus..In preparation for the mission, Sagan was shocked to learn that there would be no cameras on the robotic spacecrafts, called Mariner I and Mariner II. The other scientists thought cameras would be a waste of valuable space and equipment...Sagan couldn't believe they would give up the chance to see an alien planet up close[...]

Sagan lost the argument that time, but he won over NASA eventually. The Mariners were the last exploratory spacecraft ever launched by NASA without cameras. He contributed to the Viking, Voyager, and Galileo planetary exploration missions, and his insistence on the use of cameras helped us get the first close-up photographs of the outer planets and their moons.

I think that this latest image from Curiosity--on THE SURFACE OF MARS, fer crissake--reflects his legacy.  

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Stephen Hawking is turning 70 soon and so is giving interviews. In one with the New Scientist, he was asked, "What do you think most about during the day?" and answered, "Women. They are a complete mystery."

I know it's just a soundbite, and I know we're supposed to think he's being a charming old man, but I have to think of Carl Sagan making the argument to include women in The Explorers Club:
But we presumably are adults, with a special responsibility for interacting with all humans on this planet.

Maybe we can think of each other as human adults first, and then genders second? You've done way more complicated things, Dr. Hawking.


2. I bet you were just thinking, "How come there isn't a Tumblr for Mystery Science Theater ephemera?" Well, there is. And it's called F** Yeah MST3K. And it's full of gems like this:

Still Celebrating Carl Sagan Day

Apparently, I am not the only person with a little crush on him:




More "Sexy Sagan" right here.

I Declare It Carl Sagan Day

Happy birthday to Carl Sagan today! To celebrate Carl Sagan Day, you could watch the introduction to the Cosmos series, which is still the most popular science program ever produced for television*:



Or you could read this from Ann Druyan, which is simultaneously heartbreaking and joyful:

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...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 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...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.

Happy birthday, Carl. I like to picture you somewhere in that "ship of the imagination" from Cosmos.

*You've all heard that a sequel to Cosmos is in the works for 2013, right? Ann Druyan is helping to write/produce and Neil DeGrasse Tyson will host. I can't wait.

Convincing Myself

As I've let my inner hippie free, I've caught myself, say, doing yoga and nodding when the teacher says this will help the solar plexus chakra--which is then followed by the thought, "Carl Sagan would not approve of this."

However, this is Carl Sagan we're talking about. This is the man who contributed an essay to Marihuana Reconsidered, who approved that theme music* to the Cosmos series, and who famously said:
Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can. Because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.

That last line is what makes me think Carl would be all for letting the inner hippie out.


*Sometimes I just leave that site open and let the music loop. It's great for irritating days at work.

The Brain

As I try to deal with some emotions and make sense of others, I've been thinking about the brain a lot (not The Brain, although I have been enjoying this, too) and about the cerebral cortex, as described by my science boyfriend Carl Sagan:

The cerebral cortex is a liberation. We need no longer be trapped in the genetically inherited patterns of lizards and baboons...No longer at the mercy of the reptile brain, we can change ourselves.

The "reptile brain" is in charge of aggression and territoriality and a host of other things that the cerebral cortex can overcome, a comforting thought.

Naturally, I was delighted by this "Ode to the Brain" from Symphony of Science (the same people who brought you this) which contains that Sagan quote, along with lots more good stuff.


Because the reptile brain isn't in charge!

Friday Unrelated Information

1. As if I needed a reason to love Carl Sagan more--check out the letter he wrote arguing for the inclusion of women into The Explorer's Club. I love one of his closing lines:

But we presumably are adults, with a special responsibility for interacting with all humans on this planet.

It's exactly what I want to tell people who go on and on about gender differences.

2. Have you heard that the Kilauea volcano is erupting like crazy? You can get the latest updates from the USGS here. This picture from the 6th has perhaps the most understated caption I've ever read:
"...lava pouring from the fissure into a seemingly bottomless crack. Napau Crater in the background. Helicopter [top right] for scale."

I personally would have captioned this "ZOMG earth is opening huge waterfall of LAVA RUN AWAY!!!!"

We Interrupt This Tuesday Project Roundup

Because it's Carl Sagan's birthday!

Check out carlsagan.com, read up on the SETI Institute, or just watch Cosmos again. Here's a clip from the opening:



The cosmos is full beyond measure of elegant truths, of exquisite interrelationships, of the awesome machinery of nature.

I know you wouldn't approve of this, Carl, but I hope that somewhere, you've found out everything you still wanted to know.

Look What I Have

I found this poster for my office at work. It's nearly three feet by five feet. Delight in it.

Well Said, Dr. Sagan

I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time--when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and decay.

From The Demon-Haunted World, 1996. Reading this and then going to yoga and talking about the infinite heart and how we're all made of love is a recipe for cognitive dissonance. (Although we are made of star stuff.)

Friday Unrelated Information

1. This Carl Sagan quote gently refutes my glee yesterday about swearing ("I have to do it; it's instinct!"):
The cerebral cortex is a liberation. We need no longer be trapped in the genetically inherited patterns of lizards and baboons. We are, each of us, largely responsible for what gets put into our brains, for what, as adults, we wind up caring for and knowing about. No longer at the mercy of the reptile brain, we can change ourselves.

2. Somewhat related, if only because I learned about her in the Cosmos series, did you know that a movie is out about the life of Hypatia? It's called Agora and its lack of a slick Flash site (or any site) makes me hopeful.

Advent Calendar

The Big Picture blog has started their photo-a-day countdown to Christmas this year, again using images from the Hubble Space Telescope. A new photo is added every day here.

I think Carl Sagan would approve. My dad loaned me the book Cosmos to go along with my watching of the show, and here's my holiday thought for this season:

The Cosmos may be densely populated with intelligent beings. But the Darwinian lesson is clear: There will be no humans elsewhere. Only here. Only this small planet. We are a rare as well as an endangered species. 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.

WWCSD?

The more I watch Cosmos, the more I like Carl Sagan. Here's the opening voiceover from Episode 8:

The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars. There was a time when the stars seemed an impenetrable mystery, but today we have begun to understand them. In our personal lives, also, we journey from ignorance to knowledge. Our individual growth reflects the advancement of the species. The exploration of the cosmos is a voyage of self-discovery.

Happy Birthday, Carl Sagan

Today Carl Sagan would have been 75 years old. You can read about him on Wikipedia (did you know that "a Sagan has been defined as a humorous unit of measurement equal to at least four billion"?), watch all of the Cosmos series on Hulu, or watch the "re-mix" below, which was up on kottke.org last month. Despite the Auto-Tune, it's meant in a spirit of love, not mockery, and I bet Sagan would have liked it.