Carl Sagan Birthday & Age: Wife Ann Druyan, Children, Awards and Career Timeline

Carl Sagan, the astronomer who taught millions of people to look up at the night sky with wonder, was born on November 9, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York. He died on December 20, 1996, at age 62, but his books, his TV series Cosmos and the famous “Pale Blue Dot” image keep his ideas alive. His birthday is now celebrated by science fans around the world as Carl Sagan Day.

Carl Sagan Age and Key Dates

Fact	Detail
Born	November 9, 1934 – Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York City
Died	December 20, 1996 – Seattle, Washington (age 62)
Age at death	62
Resting place	Lake View Cemetery, Ithaca, New York
Known as	Astronomer, planetary scientist, author, science communicator

Childhood in Brooklyn

Sagan was the son of Samuel Sagan, a Ukrainian-born garment worker who emigrated from Kamianets-Podilskyi, and Rachel Molly Gruber, a homemaker from New York City. He was named after his maternal grandmother, Chaiya Clara. As a curious boy he fell in love with the stars, and at 16 he went to the University of Chicago, one of the few colleges that would accept a student so young. There he joined the Ryerson Astronomical Society and studied in a physics department shaped by Enrico Fermi.

Career Timeline

Period	What He Did
Early 1960s	Studied the atmosphere of Venus and worked with NASA’s Mariner 2 team
1960s	Taught at Harvard as an assistant professor
Late 1960s onward	Moved to Cornell University as David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences
1970s	Helped design the Pioneer plaques and the Voyager Golden Record
1978	Won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for The Dragons of Eden
1980	Co-wrote and narrated Cosmos: A Personal Voyage; co-founded the Planetary Society
1985	Published the novel Contact; testified to Congress on the greenhouse effect
1990	Voyager 1 took the Pale Blue Dot photograph he had proposed
1996	Died in Seattle after two years of illness

👉 See who else was born on this date: Famous Birthdays on November 9

Why He Still Matters

Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and articles. He played active roles in NASA’s Mariner, Viking and Voyager missions, and he was one of the first scientists to warn the public about how the greenhouse effect could change Earth’s climate. He also argued that scientists should listen for radio signals from intelligent life beyond Earth.

His biggest gift, though, was explaining science in plain, beautiful language. Cosmos has been seen by at least 500 million people in 60 countries and won two Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. Its companion book became the best-selling science book of its time. Many of today’s scientists and science communicators say he inspired them to choose their careers.

Famous Books by Carl Sagan

Book	Year	What It Covers
The Cosmic Connection	1973	His first popular science book, about humanity’s place in space
The Dragons of Eden	1977	How human intelligence evolved; won the Pulitzer Prize
Cosmos	1980	Companion to the TV series and a record-breaking bestseller
Contact	1985	Science fiction novel about first contact with aliens
Pale Blue Dot	1994	Humanity’s future in space
The Demon-Haunted World	1995	A guide to scientific thinking and skepticism

Wife and Children

Sagan was married three times, and he had five children.

Spouse	Years	Children
Lynn Margulis (biologist)	1957–1964	Dorion Sagan and Jeremy Sagan
Linda Salzman (artist)	1968–1981	Nick Sagan
Ann Druyan (author)	1981–1996	Sasha (Alexandra) Sagan and Samuel Sagan

His third wife, Ann Druyan, was also his creative partner. She worked with him on Cosmos and the Voyager Golden Record, and they stayed married until his death. Several of his children have become writers themselves.

Awards and Honours

• Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for The Dragons of Eden
• Two Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award for Cosmos
• Founding member and first president of the Planetary Society
• His novel Contact was made into a Hollywood film of the same name

Ways to Celebrate His Birthday

1. Watch an episode of Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.
2. Read Pale Blue Dot or Contact.
3. Go stargazing and find a planet with a free sky app.
4. Share a science fact with a child.

👉 More to celebrate on this day: November 9 Holidays and Observances

Frequently Asked Questions

Image credit: NASA/JPL / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. See our disclaimer.