A Mote of Dust Suspended in a Sunbeam

Last week I set my laptop's background to a picture of the back-side of the Voyager disk. I had just read a biography of Frank Drake, which described the process of creating the image for Pioneer and the media for Voyager. Drake said it was one of the highlights of his life. This was just a few days shy of tenth anniversary of Carl Sagan's death.



Dec 20th, 1996. I don't remember the day, but I was perhaps busy working on some DMK project. I think I wasn't long at DMK; I recall my date of hire because I was nervous to tell my new boss I couldn't start when she wanted me to because I was going to spend the weekend in the desert. Carl Sagan's passing probably got washed up in the new job, and the coming Winter Solstice family gathering.

But I believe my first contact with Sagan was stumbling upon a book in my parent's library-- Cosmos. Of all the amazing things in that wonderful book, I remember most of all two chapters. The Drake equation and Nuclear Winter. An imminent danger of ending all known life. A hope of finding intelligent extra-terrestrial civilizations. Thinking back on those days makes the threats of today, and our hopes, seem trivial.

Sagan died too soon; he still had much work left to do.

Tomorrow marks the 10th anniversary of the death of a hero. Let us remember him, and do our part to fan the sparks he ignited.

Thank you, Carl Sagan. May your memory deliver us from our demon-haunted world.

(Part of the memorial group-blog and Nick Sagan's appeal)