Carl Sagan

Rational news and knowledge for the everyday atheist

These biographies highlight famous atheists, celebrity atheists and famous skeptics or freethinkers who have made or are making their mark on history.

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The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God

Billions and Billions

Pale Blue Dot

Contact

Cosmos

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

The Dragons of Eden

Carl Sagan's Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective

Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan Quotes

Sagan on Myspace

From Wikipedia
Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrobiologist, and highly successful science popularizer. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which has been seen by more than 600 million people in over 60 countries, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history. A book to accompany the program was also published. He also wrote the novel Contact, the basis for the 1997 film of the same name starring Jodie Foster. During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated skeptical inquiry, humanism, and the scientific method. (more)

Carl Sagan
Videos

Carl Sagan on Evolution from Cosmos

Vision - A Tribute to Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan on Charlie Rose

Tribute Links

Founder of the Planetary Society

Carl Sagan Memorial Book

Carl Sagan Photo Gallery

Celebrating Sagan

Carl Sagan on MySpace

In Memory of Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan Remembered

Books by Carl Sagan

The Varieties of Scientific Experience

Find more of his books here.

Find book reviews here.

Writings by
Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan on Marijuana

“One prominent American religion confidently predicted that the world would end in 1914. Well, 1914 has come and gone, and – while the events of that year were certainly of some importance – the world did not, at least so far as I can see, seem to have ended. There are at least three responses that an organized religion can make in the face of such a failed and fundamental prophecy. They could have said, Oh, did we say '1914'? So sorry, we meant '2014'. A slight error in calculation. Hope you weren't inconvinenced in any way. But they did not. They could have said, Well, the world would have ended, except we prayed very hard and interceded with God so He spared the Earth. But they did not. Instead, the did something much more ingenious. They announced that the world had in fact ended in 1914, and if the rest of us hadn't noticed, that was our lookout. It is astonishing in the fact of such transparent evasions that this religion has any adherents at all. But religions are tough. Either they make no contentions which are subject to disproof or they quickly redesign doctrine after disproof. The fact that religions can be so shamelessly dishonest, so contemptuous of the intelligence of their adherents, and still flourish does not speak very well for the tough- mindedness of the believers. But it does indicate, if a demonstration was needed, that near the core of the religious experience is something remarkably resistant to rational inquiry.”

Articles on Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan and the search
for God
In the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition, God is a “being who is omnipotent, omniscient, compassionate, who created the universe, is responsive to prayer, intervenes in human affairs, and so on.”
by Barbara Fisher

Remembering Carl Sagan
[Carl Sagan died 10 years ago today. Here's an excerpt from the appreciation I wrote that day for the Style section.]
Carl Sagan warmed the universe.
His cosmos was not cold and dark and impenetrable. He believed the universe was surely filled with life, intelligent life, innumerable civilizations unseen.
by Joel Achenbach

Carl Sagan:
A Candle in the Dark
A Short Essay on the Death of Carl Sagan
by Matthew Clapp

Interviews with
Carl Sagan

CBC radio interview on Morningside
by Peter Gzowski

Carl Sagan on Charlie Rose

Nova Interview

A slayer of demons - astronomer Carl Sagan - Interview
Psychology Today