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The Swiss inventor George de Mestral became so fed up with removing cocklebur seeds from his dog and jacket, he put one under a microscope to discover the secret of its stickiness. The answer: velours (the French for loops, in clothing) and crochets (hooks, on the burs). He took the first syllables of the words, replicated the fastening phenomenon synthetically to create Velcro, used today in everything from ski jackets to "human Velcro walls".

For more than 30 years after TV broadcasting as we know it appeared in the 1930s, viewers were forced to cancel dates and delay dinners if they wanted to catch the latest episode of Coronation Street (well, the Coronation of King George VI, anyway). Video recording in fact dates back to 1927, when John Logie Baird used wax discs, but it wasn't until JVC won the video format war with Sony that its VHS format became the standard, bringing the power to record into every home.

They may not have shaken the world, but for generations of women, a fantastically diverse gallery of powered dildos has caused the earth to move. In a 2005 global survey, 26 per cent of women admitted to using a vibrator (47 per cent in Taiwan; 3 per cent in India; but presumably none in Alabama, where vibrators are banned) and today "massage" devices can be purchased, discretely, with the click of a mouse. Things were different in the 1890s, when "vulvular stimulation" was prescribed to treat "female hysteria".

Today we take music on the move for granted – naturalists have even speculated that future iPod generations will evolve headphone jacks where our tails used to sprout. Well, not really, but most of today's music listeners will not remember a time when mobile music meant groaning under the weight of a ghettoblaster. Sony came up with the first popular personal stereo cassette player, although the German-Brazilian Andreas Pavel had patented a similar device called the Stereobelt in 1978. The Walkman was commissioned by the firm's opera-loving chief, Akio Morita (see CD), who wanted to access all arias on plane flights.

For most of us, weighing scales appear only from beneath the bath to deliver bad news or collect dust at the back of the kitchen cupboard, but their invention stands as one of modern civilisation's most important achievements. Thought to have been conceived, in the form of a crude equal-arm balance, in Egypt in around 5000BC, weighing scales facilitated early trade – the first balances were used to weigh gold dust. The Egyptians also invented the first unit of weight – the kite – in around 3000BC.

The wheel surely deserves a place near the top of any "greatest inventions" list; a post-industrial world without it is inconceivable. Its invention was perhaps inevitable, but it came later than it might have done; several civilisations, including the Incas and the Aztecs did pretty well without wheels. The earliest evidence of a wheel – a pictograph from Sumeria (modern day Iraq) – dates from 3500BC; the device rolled West soon after that.

Look at your flies or your handbag and, chances are, the zip that keeps your valuables in place started life in a factory in the Qiaotou, a dusty town in Zhejiang Province, China. Qiaotou's zip plants manufacture an astonishing 80 per cent of the world's zips, churning out 124,000 miles of zip each year (enough to stretch five times round the globe or half way to the moon). Credit for the device's invention goes to Gideon Sundback. In 1913, the Swedish engineer made the first modern zip to fasten high boots.

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  NAME: Carl Edward Sagan
  
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  OCCUPATION: Astronomer, Journalist, Author
  
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  BIRTH DATE: November 09, 1934
  
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  DEATH DATE: December 20, 1996
  
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  EDUCATION: University of Chicago, University of California
  
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  PLACE OF BIRTH: Brooklyn, New York
  
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  PLACE OF DEATH: Seattle, Washington
  

Carl Sagan was one of the most well-known scientists during the 1970s and ‘80s. He studied extraterrestrial intelligence and advocated for nuclear disarmament.

Astronomer Carl Sagan was born on November 9, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from the University of Chicago and studied planets and extraterrestrial intelligence. He was named director of Cornell’s Laboratory for Planetary Studies in 1968. Being against nuclear weapons, he introduced the idea of “nuclear winter” in 1983. He wrote several novels and the TV series Cosmos before his death in 1996.

(born Nov. 9, 1934, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died Dec. 20, 1996, Seattle, Wash.) American astronomer and science writer. A popular and influential figure in the United States, he was also controversial in scientific, political, and religious circles for his views on extraterrestrial intelligence, nuclear weapons, and religion. Sagan wrote the article “life” for the 1970 printing of the 14th Edition of Encyclopædia Britannica (1929–73).

Sagan attended the University of Chicago, where he earned a bachelor's and a master's degree in physics in 1955 and 1956, respectively, and a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics in 1960. From 1960 to 1962 he was a fellow in astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and from 1962 to 1968 he worked at Harvard University and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. His early work focused on the physical conditions of the planets, especially the atmospheres of Venus and Jupiter. During that time he became interested in the possibility of life beyond Earth and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), a controversial research field he did much to advance. For example, building on earlier work by American chemists Stanley Miller and Harold Urey, he demonstrated that amino acids and nucleic acids—the building blocks of life—could be produced by exposing a mixture of simple chemicals to ultraviolet radiation. Some scientists criticized Sagan's work, arguing that it was unreasonable to use resources for SETI, a fantasy project that was almost certainly doomed to failure. In 1968 he became the director of Cornell University's Laboratory for Planetary Studies. He became a full professor there in 1971. He helped select the Mars landing sites for the Viking probes, and he codesigned the messages from Earth that were attached to the Pioneer and Voyager probes that were launched out of the solar system. Sagan remained at Cornell until his death from pneumonia, a complication of the bone-marrow disease myelodysplasia, at age 62.

Although Sagan did important research on planetary atmospheres, in astrobiology, and on the origin of life on Earth, he made his reputation primarily as a spokesman for science and a popularizer of astronomy. In the 1970s and '80s he was probably the best-known scientist in the United States. Both an advocate for and a showman of science, he invested much of his career in improving public understanding of science and defending its rational nature. In 1973 he published, with Jerome Agel, The Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective, which earned him prominence as a popular science writer. The following year he confronted the American writer Immanuel Velikovsky in a public debate over Velikovsky's theories of the history of the solar system. In 1980 Sagan cofounded the Planetary Society, an international nonprofit organization for space exploration. That same year he reached the height of his public fame with the television series Cosmos, which he wrote with his wife, Ann Druyan. The accompanying book, with the same title, became a best seller. It was followed by several other books, including the science-fiction novel Contact (1985), which in 1997 was made into a successful film.

Sagan sometimes used his prestige for political purposes, as in his campaign for nuclear disarmament and his opposition to the Strategic Defense Initiative of Pres. Ronald Reagan. In 1983 he cowrote the paper that introduced the concept of “nuclear winter,” a catastrophic global cooling that would result from a nuclear war. Sagan was also coauthor of The Cold and the Dark:

The World After Nuclear War (1984). A tireless advocate of scientific rationality, he argued strongly against tendencies toward pseudoscience and occultism, most comprehensively in his last major book, The Demon-Haunted World (1996), significantly subtitled Science as a Candle in the Dark. Although he denied that he was an atheist, Sagan expressed skepticism about conventional religion, which he wanted to replace with a scientifically based belief system. Some critics claimed that Sagan's arguments against traditional religious beliefs were simplistic and revealed his lack of theological insight.

Sagan received numerous awards and honours, including the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction in 1978 for his book The Dragons of Eden, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Distinguished Public Service Medal (1977 and 1981), and the rsted Medal from the American Association of Physics Teachers in 1990. In 1994 he was awarded the Public Welfare Medal by the National Academy of Sciences, but he never succeeded in becoming a member of that prestigious academy.

Helge Kragh

Copyright © 1994-2011 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. For more information visit Britannica.com

OBITUARY : Professor Carl Sagan

Carl Murray Saturday, 21 December 1996 The Independent

In 1994, Carl Sagan was presented with the Public Welfare Medal, the highest award of the US National Academy of Sciences. The citation rightly claimed that "No one has ever succeeded in conveying the wonder, excitement and joy of science as widely as Carl Sagan and few as well". Such skills are rare in any individual, yet Sagan was also a professional astronomer who carried out important research in planetary science - inspiring millions with his writings and broadcasts was just one of his many talents.

Carl Sagan had already decided to be an astronomer by the age of 13. Having told his grandfather of his choice of career, the response was "Yes, yes, but how will you make your living?" Sagan once said that one of the greatest moments of his life was when he was told by his high school biology teacher that there were people who were actually paid to do astronomy.

Suitably inspired he went on to obtain his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1960 and taught at the University of California at Berkeley, Harvard and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory before taking a position at Cornell in 1968.

A recurring theme in his research was the origin of life. Following on from the laboratory experiments of Stanley Miller and Harold Urey, Sagan and his colleagues showed that it was relatively easy to produce amino acids, the building blocks of life, by exposing mixtures of methane, ammonia, water and hydrogen sulphide to long-wavelength ultraviolet light.

This work continued under Sagan's directorship of the Laboratory of Planetary Studies at Cornell. He also worked on studies of the surface of Mars and Venus, and he was an active participant in the highly successful Mariner, Viking and Voyager missions which sent robot spacecraft to explore the planets. In 1976 Sagan was appointed David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences, and from 1968 to 1979 he was Editor-in-Chief of Icarus, the International Journal of Solar System Studies. Sagan remained at Cornell for the rest of his life and his presence there enhanced the university's reputation as one of the leading centres for planetary research in the world.

A vociferous proponent of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti), an experiment originally funded by Nasa to locate radio signals from other civilisations in outer space, Sagan investigated the practicalities of conveying information about ourselves to other intelligent beings. In 1977, he became the driving force behind a project to prepare a disk of recorded material for attachment to each of the two Voyager spacecraft due to reach interstellar space following their exploration of the outer solar system.

The project, detailed in the book Murmurs of Earth (1978), provided an opportunity to convey the essence of our own civilisation to others. As well as 118 photographs and greetings in almost 60 languages, the disk contained 90 minutes of music selected from around the world encompassing many cultures and traditions ("I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach," remarked a biologist, "but that would be boasting".)

In 1978 Sagan won a Pulitzer Prize for his book The Dragons of Eden: speculations on the evolution of human intelligence. Other books include Broca's Brain (1979), Comet (1986) and Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1993), these last two with his third wife, Ann Druyan, as co-author. He also wrote a novel, Contact (1985). However, to the general public he will be best-remembered for Cosmos (1980), an ambitious book and 13- part television series on astronomy which highlighted the efforts of those people throughout history who have tried to make sense of the universe. It is estimated that the series has been seen by almost 10 per cent of the world's population and it justifiably earned Sagan many accolades and awards.

Sagan made frequent television appearances and with his slow, deliberate voice of reason, he became an articulate spokesman for astronomy and science, often espousing the cause of rational scientific argument and debate in the face of a tide of pseudo-science and superstition. He returned to this theme in his final book, Demon Haunted World (1996). He believed that all scientists should be capable of describing their work in terms that were understandable to the general public and furthermore that they had a duty to do so.

Ironically, something he had in common with many professional scientists who undertake to make complex concepts more accessible to the public, his ability to popularise his own subject led some astronomers to doubt his credentials as a working scientist. However, even though the publicity resulting from Cosmos made it difficult for him to return to his normal duties at Cornell, he continued to produce important contributions to planetary science on a wide range of subjects.

One of his most influential papers (with Richard Turco, Owen Toon, Thomas Ackerman and James Pollack - the Ttaps group) introduced the concept of nuclear winter, whereby the fires resulting from a thermonuclear war would inject fine smoke particles into the Earth's atmosphere, trigger a global ice age and cause the collapse of agriculture; there could be no winners of such a war. With supporting evidence from the dust forms on Mars and the subsequent verification of the concept using computer models, Sagan speculated that perhaps the prospect of nuclear winter had played a constructive role in convincing nations of the futility of nuclear war.

Sagan was fond of pointing out that we are living at a unique point in our history when, in the course of a few generations, humans have taken the first steps beyond their home planet to explore the solar system. He delighted in the fact that he was alive at this exciting time and he drew parallels with a previous age of discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries. The title of his penultimate book, Pale Blue Dot (1994), refers to the insignificant appearance of Earth as viewed from deep interplanetary space; in it he looked forward to an era when future generations will have escaped self-destruction and natural catastrophes to move beyond the confines of Earth. He finished the book with these words:

They will gaze up and strain to find the blue dot in their skies. They will love it no less for its obscurity and fragility. They will marvel at how vulnerable the repository of all our potential once was, how perilous our infancy, how humble our beginnings, how many rivers we had to cross before we found our way. If we do manage to find our way, it will be thanks to the efforts of Carl Sagan. The inhabitants of the blue dot mourn his departure.

Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer: born Brooklyn, New York 9 November 1934; David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Science, Cornell University 1976-96; married first Lynn Margulis, second Linda Saltzman (three sons), third 1981 Ann Druyan (one son, one daughter); died Seattle 20 December 1996.

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