<VV> Who was Carl Sagan?

[Chris & Bill Strickland]

>Who was Carl Sagan?  There are probably others wondering also. Ken
>

Born November 9, 1934, Carl E Sagan received doctorates in astronomy and 
astrophysics from the University of Chicago in 1960. He began his career 
at Harvard University, but became a Full Professor at Cornell in 1971. 
Sagan received numerous awards throughout his career including the 
Pulitzer Prize, as well as several honorary degrees from American 
colleges and Universities. Sagan had direct influence on many space 
missions such as NASA's Mariner, Viking and Voyager missions, all of 
which involved study- of other planets within our solar system.

Sagan published over 600 papers, wrote or co-wrote more than 20 books, 
commentated a mini-series on PBS called Cosmos, which was the most 
watched television show in history, generating more than 500 million 
viewers in over 60 countries. Near the end of his life even co-produced 
a movie based on his book Contact.

Sagan also did pioneering research in biology and evolution, both 
directly related to anthropology. While studying the universe and its 
history, Sagan posed many theories on the origin of the earth and 
mankind. The field of astronomy is not only a pure science such as 
physics or chemistry, but it also has an anthropological aspect that 
theoretically explains earth's origins, the human race's evolution, and 
the environments in which these were created. Sagan played a key role in 
revolutionizing thought in the late twentieth century pertaining to 
astronomy, evolution, and even biology. Sagan received many awards and 
was recognized by many people during his life. Believed by many to be 
the world's greatest populizer of science, with his literature, research 
and teachings, he reached millions of people as an author, commentator 
of the popular PBS television series Cosmos, and as the David Duncan 
Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences and director of the Laboratory 
for Planetary Studies at Cornell University.

And, at one time, he had a Corvair.

from http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/pqrst/sagan_carl.html