Renowned science communicator Carl Sagan spent most of his professional career as an astronomy professor and director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University. Now a new research institution at Cornell University bears his name. The Carl Sagan Institute: Pale Blue Dot and Beyond was christened on May 9.
The opening event, called “(un)Discovered Worlds” featured a day of talks by some of America’s leading scientists. The institute will take a multidisciplinary approach to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, bringing together astrophysicists as well as Earth scientists, biologists, geologists and engineers.
Ann Druyan, Sagan’s widow who worked with him on numerous projects including the series Cosmos and the motion picture “Contact” was on hand for the dedication.
“There’s a meta quality to this day. Honoring Carl by empowering interdisciplinary scientists to search for the answers to his most passionate scientific questioning, seeking to share that understanding with the public, and finding in that knowledge applications to life-threatening dangers here on Earth – that’s a multi-leveled and highly accurate reflection of who Carl was. That this new institute’s home is where he chose to work and live adds yet another meaningful dimension. From the moment I first met astrophysicist Lisa Kaltenegger, the Carl Sagan Institute’s founding director, I recognized one of Carl’s kindred. It’s thanks to her that his legacy is being given such vibrant expression here at Cornell,” said Druyan in a statement.
Kaltenegger laid out some of the big questions that the institute was created to help answer.
“Are we alone in the universe? And how different or similar are other worlds to our own? These questions fascinated such inspirational pioneers as Carl Sagan, and for the first time in history, we have the technology to find out. We’re truly standing on the shoulders of giants, especially here at Cornell, where Carl Sagan was looking at our own ‘pale blue dot’ to identify signs of life we can look for on other worlds,” said Kaltenegger.
Among other things, the institute is the home of the Color Catalog which could help researchers to identify the signatures of life on other planets.
Kaltenegger also expressed the hope that the institute would help everyone to better understand life on Earth as well.
“Finding other, older worlds can also give us a first glimpse into our potential future. This is an exciting time, with the next generation of telescopes that can detect such worlds soon to be available, and the interdisciplinary team here at the Carl Sagan Institute exploring the essential questions in this search, together,” she said.
While the search for life beyond Earth used to be a fringe area of science, since researchers began using advanced telescopes to find exoplanets the topic has heated up considerably.
NASA’s NExSS program, launched in April, also takes a multidisciplinary approach to the question. NExSS brings together groups from more than a dozen universities and almost every branch of Earth and space science to help answer questions about where to look for life ‘out there.’
The launch of the most powerful telescope to date, the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for 2018 is expected to accelerate the search by allowing scientists to locate more planets and to know more about those planets than we do currently.