History
Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) pioneered Exobiology since the beginning of planetary exploration and played a leading role in the preparation of experiments intended to detect signs of life on other planets. He was associated with the American space program since its beginning in the 1950s and contributed to the Mariner, Viking, Voyager, and Galileo missions.
His background in astronomy and astrophysics (University of Chicago) and his strong interest in the origin of life on Earth and elsewhere in the universe led him to combine scientific fields such as biology, chemistry, and astrophysics. He popularized Exobiology with talent and wrote many popular science bestsellers. Above all, he was very famous for cowriting and presenting in the 1980s the TV series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which was broadcasted all over the world.
Sagan promoted SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) thanks to his fine talent as writer (Cosmic Connection: An...
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Raulin-Cerceau, F. (2015). Sagan Carl. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44185-5_1399
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