Skip to main content Skip to Search Box

Sagan, Carl Edward (1934-1996)

From The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Place: United States of America Subject : biography, astronomy US astronomer and popularizer of astronomy whose main research was on planetary atmospheres, including that of the primordial Earth. His most remarkable achievement was to provide valuable insights into the origin of life on our planet. Sagan was born on 19 November 1934 in New York City. Completing his education at the University of Chicago, he obtained his bachelor's degree in 1955 and his doctorate in 1960. Then, for two years, he was a research fellow at the University of California in Berkeley, before he transferred to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, lecturing also at Harvard, where he became assistant professor. Finally, in 1968 Sagan moved to Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, and took up a position as director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies; in 1970 he became professor of astronomy and space science there. He died on 20 December 1996. The editor of the…
156 results

Full text Article Sagan, Carl Edward

From Astronomy Encyclopedia
American astronomer known for his Solar System studies, especially of planetary atmospheres and surfaces, and investigations into life and its origin on Earth. After working at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory he moved to Cornell in 1968, becoming director of its Laboratory for Planetary…
| 251 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Sagan, Carl

From The Great American History Fact-Finder
| 88 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Sagan, Carl (1934–1996)

From The Oxford Encyclopedia of the History of American Science, Medicine, and Technology
astronomer, science popularizer Born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a clothing-factory worker, Sagan showed a precocious interest in science and earned a BA and PhD in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of Chicago. From an assistant professorship at Harvard he moved to Cornell in…
| 595 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Sagan, Carl Edward (1934-1996)

From The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Place: United States of America Subject : biography, astronomy US astronomer and popularizer of astronomy whose main research was on planetary atmospheres, including that of the primordial Earth. His most remarkable achievement was to provide valuable insights into the origin of life on our planet. …
| 807 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article physical scientist

From Science Encyclopedia: Encyclopedia of Marine Science
Physicists or other scientists specializing in the study of nonliving matter and energy are physical scientists. Some notable physical scientists include chemists such as Samuel Proctor Massie, Jr. (1919-2005), astronomers such as Carl Sagan (1934-1996), meteorologists such as John Dalton…
| 558 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Margulis, Lynn (1938–2011)

From The Oxford Encyclopedia of the History of American Science, Medicine, and Technology
theoretical and experimental biologist Lynn Margulis was a theoretical and experimental biologist who made fundamental contributions to cell biology and microbial evolution. The eldest of four daughters born to Leone and Morris Alexander, Margulis grew up on the South Side of Chicago and attended…
| 619 words
Key concepts:
The American astronomer Carl Sagan advanced the understanding of the origin of life in Earth's earliest atmosphere. He showed how adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a fundamental molecule that stores energy in all organisms, could have been produced from a mixture of basic organic molecules subjected to…
| 230 words

Full text Article Sagan, Carl

From American Environmental Leaders
(November 9, 1934–December 20, 1996) Astronomer, Television Show Host Carl Sagan was one of the best-known scientists among the public in the United States and perhaps in the world, recognized for his contributions to our knowledge of Venus and Mars, for his extensive work on Mariner missions of the…
| 1,284 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Sagan, Carl Edward

From Encyclopedia of Evolution
(b. 1934–d. 1996) astronomer, astrophysicist, physicist Carl E. Sagan was famous as an astronomer who adopted an evolutionary perspective, and as a popularizer of science, particularly evolution. His books and media productions served as the major source of evolutionary science for many thousands of…
| 1,049 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Sagan, Carl (Edward)

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(born Nov. 9, 1934, Brooklyn, N.Y., N.Y., U.S.—died Dec. 20, 1996, Seattle, Wash.) U.S. astronomer and science writer. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. At the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (1962–68), he focused on planetary astronomy and on SETI efforts to find…
| 241 words
Key concepts:
Mind Map

Stack overflow
More Library Resources