Talk:Carl Sagan

This is a former Featured Article. Sagan certainly deserves one, as he introduced science (among much else) to so many. I don't think it's there yet. Some of the stuff in biography seems close to psychobiography. And in the lead, shouldn't there be more about his scientific contributions--his investigations of Mars and Venus, for example? Per The New York Times, "Dr. Sagan offered a new interpretation of color variations observed on Mars. Some scientists said the variations could be seasonal changes in some form of plant life, but Dr. Sagan and a colleague, James Pollack, said that shifts in Martian dust caused by wind storms could explain the observation. The theory was confirmed by a Mariner spacecraft in the 1970's.

Dr. Sagan was deeply involved in NASA's missions to explore Mars and other planets. He was a member of the imaging team for the voyage to Mars by Mariner 9, a spacecraft launched in 1971 that was the first to orbit another planet; it transmitted 7,300 photographs of the Martian surface. He helped select the landing sites for Viking 1 and Viking 2, the first spacecraft to land successfully on Mars, in 1975." His research on the origin of life is also significant. Not all of this should be in the lead, but some of it merits mention. Charlie Faust (talk) 15:41, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

That is the last chapter of his penultimate book, The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark, based on a speech he gave at Monticello. He speaks of the importance of science for democracy in America and elsewhere. Anyone know where we can find a link to it? Charlie Faust (talk) 23:46, 4 February 2026 (UTC)

A useful lead. Charlie Faust (talk) 13:19, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

Here is the last chapter. Anyone know if we can find a video of the speech? Charlie Faust (talk) 22:05, 10 February 2026 (UTC)