“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe”. How could anyone who came up with this not be a genius?

Most of us have heroes. People that we immensely admire and respect, that inspire us to better ourselves and that challenge us to broaden our horizons.  Mine is not a rock star, an artist, a sportsman or an actor. He is a scientist. He is not even the most well known scientist (Albert Einstein) or the most trendy (Brian Cox).  By the time I became aware of him he had been dead for 6 years. But Carl Sagan is  my hero.

Before being interested in physics and cosmology I was already an advocate of the debunking of pseudo science. Few things infuriate me more than astrology, alien abduction stories, conspiracy theories and homeopathy. It was this view that led me to a book written by Carl Sagan called ‘The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark’. As well as eloquently debunking the kind of nonsense listed above, it introduced me to scientific method and gave compelling reasons why we should be critical, sceptical thinkers. Most of all it was passionate, funny, heartfelt and well written. I was hooked on science.

The book encouraged me to look further into Sagan’s work. His achievements are astounding. By the time of his death, at the age of only 62, in addition to a lifetime of teaching he had he had written more than 600 scientific papers and articles, authored over 20 books and had written and presented the series ‘Cosmos’. In addition he worked with the American space program from its inception; advising the Apollo astronauts before their flights to the Moon (surely still mankind’s greatest achievement?)

‘Cosmos: A Personal Voyage‘ was a thirteen-part TV series that Sagan presented and co-wrote in the year of my birth, 1980.  It covered a wide range of scientific (and sometimes philosophical) subjects including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe. When it came out it was the most watched series in the history of American public television, and even today is still the most widely watched PBS series in the world. It won a host of awards for its content and its pioneering use of special effects.

But the reason Cosmos is still the greatest science documentary ever made is the enthusiasm, passion, humility and wit of Carl Sagan. He made an extraordinarily complex subject extremely compelling and accessable. He had an almost mystical presence on the screen. Some authors do not transfer well to the screen. Bill Bryson is a good example. His writing is very funny and dry. But on TV he comes across as a little pompous and certainly not as likeable as on the pages of his books. But if anything Sagan is even better on TV that he is on paper.

Cosmos goes beyond just physics. Even though it was made years before climate change was really known about Sagan gives a stark warning about the dangers of the greenhouse effect (citing Venus as an example). He also asks some very challenging and pertinent questions about God and where the Universe came from before the Big Bang. (See the clip below).

It is testament to his scientific ability that 30 years after Cosmos was first aired it is still considered scientifically accurate. But it is not his scientific ability that sets him apart. Although a gifted scientist, there are others who may claim to be equally as talented. But none could come close to Sagan as a communicator and a champion of science.

Some of the beautiful and insightful things Sagan said about the Universe have been entertainingly captured in the track ‘A Glorious Dawn’ (clip below).  Sadly it failed to break into the charts but it is a pretty great tune!