Carl Sagan

Active - 1980 - 1997  |   Born - Nov 9, 1934   |   Died - Dec 20, 1996   |   Genres - Science & Technology [nf], Science Fiction, Mystery

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Biography by AllMovie

Though he was an internationally prominent astrophysicist and astronomer at Cornell University, Carl Sagan is perhaps best known for his 13--part PBS documentary series Cosmos (1980), a science show designed to explain the possible origins of the universe and the nature of space to lay audiences. In 1978, Sagan won a Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction for The Dragons of Eden. In 1985, he penned the speculative, sci-fi novel Contact and in the mid '90s co-produced the big-budget film version that starred Jody Foster. Sagan suffered from bone-marrow disease and in 1996 checked into a Seattle hospital to undergo treatment. On December 20, he died of pneumonia, a complication of the treatment.