Today, on what would have been his 76th birthday, I finished watching Carl Sagan‘s Cosmos: A Personal Journey. Just in case you don’t know, or don’t care to read the links, here’s the summary: Carl Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, author, cosmologist, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. Cosmos is a highly acclaimed TV-series that takes you on a journey through, surprise surprise, the cosmos.
I guess was aware of Carl Sagan and Cosmos for quite a while, but it wasn’t until the awesome video below made its rounds on the internet that I felt the need to expand on this knowledge, so I ordered the series on DVD. And it’s a highly recommend—be it slightly dated—blast of science. There are at least two reasons for that. The first is the simple fact that the universe is awesome, incredible, mysterious and mind-bogglingly huge. Secondly, I love how Carl Sagan talks. The words just flow over you, you can’t help but listen. It’s very soothing. A good example would be his comments on Pale Blue Dot, a photo of the Earth taken from some 6 billion kilometers away, which I’ve included below.
Watch it, and perhaps, learn something about the cosmos and our place in it.
Pale Blue Dot
Symphony of Science — A Glorious Dawn