On December 20, 1996 a star went out in the skeptical heavens - Carl Sagan died. He'd been battling a tencious form of cancer that took his life, but not his legacy. He left behind incredible works such as Demon Haunted World, Pale Blue Dot, the Voyager Golden Record, and of course, the legendary TV series Cosmos.I was honored to be asked to speak at the second annual Carl Sagan Day sponsored by the JREF, CFI Fort Lauderdale, Broward College, FLASH and CASE. Joining me were a number of luminaries including Hal Bidlack, Nicole Gugliucci, Jeffrey Bennett, Russell Romanella, John Boswell, and of course James Randi himself.
Randi was Carl's personal friend of many years. They shared a love of science and discovery, and their differing backgrounds created a symmetry between them. Randi (as well as Jose Alvarez) are mentioned in The Demon Haunted World - Science as a Candle in the Darkness. If you haven't read this book, stop reading this now and go do so. I'll wait.
Back? Excellent. The event took place on the central campus of Broward College, and featured a number of tables and activities outside the main hall. "NoisyAstronomer" Nicole Gugliucci made comets with kids out of dry ice and gravel, and a life-size mockup of Buzz Aldrin on the moon provided for some great photo opportunities. The robotics club showed off their creations, and there was much merriment as water bottle rockets took flight while Mentos erupted from soda containers.
In the teacher workshops, Nicole demonstrated how to lead kids through double-blinded experiments, I explored the concept of magic and what is can teach students, and Jeffrey Bennett discussed how kids can best be introduced to science.
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| Jeffrey Bennett Discusses ET |
The main presentation held some suprises. Russ Romanella discussed space travel and showed a stunning video that displayed all the asteroids detected in recent years. Take it from him – we are not alone. John Boswell, creator of Symphony of Science showed off a few of his videos including a new one that features Randi himself (still in production). Hal Bidlack was able to update us on his work in the publicizing ersatz bomb detecting devices, which have now been removed from Iraqi checkpoints. (Big applause!) Finally, Randi revealed some of his private correspondence with Carl, including the revelation that Carl Sagan, in fact, hated being cooped up on the cardboard spaceship while filming Cosmos. It made for excellent television, but apparently the star voyager was much less impressive in person.
One thing that struck me in a rather startling way was how few people actually knew who Sagan was. While I was greeted with an 80% YES response to my quesiton "Who here identifies as a skeptic?" I had a number of people tell me that they had never heard of Carl Sagan before that day. Folks, we can't let this stand. I believe Carl Sagan was a national treasure, as his ability to communicate the necessity and wonder of science reached audiences never before affected but such dry subject matter. Carl showed us that it wasn't dry at all. In fact science is exciting, engaging, and important.
The day's talks were steamed on UStream, in fact you can watch those recordings here. There's about 8 hours of content there, and it's worth your time. But I have something more important to ask you.
Libraries purge books that don't circulate. PLEASE visit your library, and make sure they have Carl's (and Randi's) books on the shelves. If they do, check them out. You don't have to read them – just the act of checking them out will help ensure their place on the shelves. If they don't have these books, ask if you can donate them. You'll be doing the citizens of your community a favor.
Next year's Carl Sagan Day in Broward is scheduled for November 5, 2011 in the same location. CFI is serving as an organizational lobby for events nationwide, and hopefully other groups will pick up the mantle and celebrate their own Carl Sagan Day. As for me, I'm going to stop writing and watch an episode of Cosmos. And then, I'll have some apple pie, though I assure you, I won't be making it from scratch.
Jeff Wagg is a JREF Fellow and editor of IndieSkeptics.com. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.