The story of civilization in 4 minutes, as told by America's best scientific storyteller.
Carl Sagan and the Pale Blue Dot
Born: November 9, 1934
Died: December 20, 1996
The most influential person in my intellectual life was, and remains, Carl Sagan. He died in 1996, but his memory, his words live on. In addition to being a scholar of the first order, he had the rare gift of being able to inject his own spirit of awe and wonder into his descriptions of the world, the universe, and of all those things that were important to him. I watched each of those episodes of Cosmos on PBS like a trekker following each new adventure with the crew of the starship Enterprise as they sought out “new life and new civilizations.” Incidentally, I was also a big fan of that series.
Here is an animated version of Carl’s description of our home, planet Earth. You may have read this narrative elsewhere, but listen to the excitement and wonder in his voice as Carl tells us about our voyage, and what it meant to him. You will never be able to forget his intensity and his sense of purpose—I promise.
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