Making Science Popular

               http://www.whosdatedwho.com/topic/7968/carl-sagan-time-magazine-20-october-1980.htm

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/04/12/brian-cox-talks-about-carl-sagan/

   
    One of Carl Sagans greatest contributions to the sciences was in making science popular among people who would have otherwise been uninterested. His PBS television show, "Cosmos, covered a wide range of scientific subjects including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe. The series was first broadcast by the Public Broadcasting Service in 1980, winning an Emmy and a Peabody Award. It has been broadcast in more than 60 countries and seen by over 500 million people, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history."(wiki)
  
     Using his television show he was able to reach millions of people and engage them in science and scientific thinking.  In this video he has puts our world into perspective and suggests that we are not as important as we think we are.

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M

    Carl Sagan was a champion of public education and "Throughout his career, Sagan devoted himself to the quest to improve public understanding of the nature of science. He wanted every citizen to have a “baloney detector” as defense against sham in commerce and politics as well as science. He felt that it was the duty of scientists to face these issues squarely and publicly" (Morrison)

    So while he wanted people to understand science, he also wanted people to understand how scientists thought. How to use rational thinking to describe phenomena that are not easily explained.

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