The Dragons Of Eden: Speculations On The Evolution Of Human Intelligence By Carl Sagan

The Dragons Of Eden: Speculations On The Evolution Of Human Intelligence By Carl Sagan

DR. CARL SAGAN TAKES US ON A GREAT READING ADVENTURE, OFFERING HIS VIVID AND STARTLING INSIGHT INTO THE BRAIN OF MAN AND BEAST, THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, THE FUNCTION OF OUR MOST HAUNTING LEGENDS--AND THEIR AMAZING LINKS TO RECENT DISCOVERIES. A HISTORY OF THE HUMAN BRAIN FROM THE BIG BANG, FIFTEEN BILLION YEARS AGO, TO THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY...IT S A DELIGHT.

About the Author

in 1934, scientist Carl Sagan was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. After earning bachelor and masters degrees at Cornell, Sagan earned a double doctorate at the University of Chicago in 1960. He became professor of astronomy and space science and director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University, and co-founder of the Planetary Society. A great popularizer of science, Sagan produced the PBS series, "Cosmos," which was Emmy and Peabody award-winning, and was watched by 500 million people in 60 countries. A book of the same title came out in 1980, and was on The New York Times bestseller list for 7 weeks. Sagan was author, co-author or editor of 20 books, including The Dragons of Eden (1977), which won a Pulitzer, Pale Blue Dot (1995) and The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark (1996), his hardest-hitting on religion. With his wife, >, he was co-producer of the popular motion picture, "Contact," which featured a feminist, atheist protagonist played by > (1997). The film came out after Sagans death, following a 2-year struggle with a bone marrow disease. Sagan played a leading role in NASAs Mariner, Viking, Voyager, and Galileo expeditions to other planets. >, in the epilogue to Sagans last book, Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium (published posthumously in 1997), gives a moving account of Carls last days: "Contrary to the fantasies of the fundamentalists, there was no deathbed conversion, no last minute refuge taken in a comforting vision of a heaven or an afterlife. For Carl, what mattered most was what was true, not merely what would make us feel better. Even at this moment when anyone would be forgiven for turning away from the reality of our situation, Carl was unflinching. As we looked deeply into each others eyes, it was with a shared conviction that our wondrous life together was ending forever."

For his work, Dr. Sagan received the NASA medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and (twice) for Distinguished Public Service, as well as the NASA Apollo Achievement Award. Asteroid 2709 Sagan is named after him. He was also awarded the > Astronautics Award of the American Astronautical Society, the Explorers Club 75th Anniversary Award, the > Medal of the Soviet Cosmonauts Federation, and the Masursky Award of the American Astronomical Society, ("for his extraordinary contributions to the development of planetary science…As a scientist trained in both astronomy and biology, Dr. Sagan has made seminal contributions to the study of planetary atmospheres, planetary surfaces, the history of the Earth, and exobiology. Many of the most productive planetary scientists working today are his present and former students and associates").

He was also a recipient of the Public Welfare Medal, the highest award of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Sagan was elected Chairman of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, President of the Planetology Section of the American Geophysical Union, and Chairman of the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. For twelve years he was the editor-in-chief of Icarus, the leading professional journal devoted to planetary research. He was cofounder and President of the Planetary Society, a 100,000-member organization that is the largest space-interest group in the world; and Distinguished Visiting Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.

In their posthumous award to Dr. Sagan of their highest honor, the National Science Foundation declared that his "research transformed planetary science… his gifts to mankind were infinite." D. 1996.

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