Carl Sagan
<p><b>Carl Edward Sagan</b> (<a title="Help:IPA for English" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English">/</a><a title="Help:IPA for English" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key">ˈseɪɡən</a><a title="Help:IPA for English" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English">/</a>; November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American <a title="Astronomer" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomer">astronomer</a>, <a title="Astrophysics" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrophysics">astrophysicist</a>, <a title="Cosmology" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmology">cosmologist</a>, author, science popularizer and <a title="Science communicator" class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_communicator">science communicator</a> in astronomy and natural sciences. He spent most of his career as a professor of astronomy at <a title="Cornell University" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_University">Cornell University</a> where he directed the Laboratory for <a title="Planetary science" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_science">Planetary Studies</a>. He published more than 600 scientific papers<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup> and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books. He advocated <a title="Scientific skepticism" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_skepticism">scientific skeptical inquiry</a> and the <a title="Scientific method" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method">scientific method</a>, pioneered <a title="Exobiology" class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exobiology">exobiology</a> and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (<a title="Search for extraterrestrial intelligence" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_for_extraterrestrial_intelligence">SETI</a>).
Sagan is known for his <a title="Popular science" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_science">popular science</a> books and for the award-winning 1980 television series <i><a title="Cosmos: A Personal Voyage" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos:A_Personal_Voyage">Cosmos: A Personal Voyage</a></i>, which he narrated and co-wrote.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Starchild_3-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#cite_note-Starchild-3">[3]</a></sup> The book <i><a title="Cosmos (book)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos(book)">Cosmos</a></i> was published to accompany the series. Sagan wrote the novel <i><a title="Contact (novel)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact(novel)">Contact</a></i>, the basis for a 1997 <a title="Contact (1997 film)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact(1997_film)">film of the same name</a>.</p>