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The Sagan Effect

If the title of this post caught your eye and made you curious about reading it, it is a safe bet that you know who Carl Sagan was. It is also entirely possible that Sagan turned you on to the wonders of science. If so, we have that in common.

He is so well-known that I will not say much beside the “basics”. Sagan is one of my scientific heroes. Even though I have always loved science, reading his books helped me understand why. He was an outstanding scientist, with more than 500 (!) scientific papers to his name. However, Sagan is best-known as a science “popularizer”. He wrote several books, mostly about astronomy and the relationship of humans with the universe in general, but he also wrote about the evolution of human intelligence in his Pulitzer Prize-Winning book “The Dragons of Eden”. He also wrote the novel “Contact”, which was adapted into a move of the same name. My favorite Sagan’s book, *bar none* is Broca’s Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science. In a very real sense, just like you never forget your first “Doctor” (cue in Dr. Who’s music theme) you never forget your first Sagan book.

Without a doubt, Sagan is best known as the host of the hugely popular series “Cosmos”. At one time, it was estimated that the series was seen by roughly a ninth of the world’s population!**

By most measurements of success, he made it. However, he paid a price.
The Sagan effect can be defined in various ways. One of these versions states that the scientific popularity of a scientist with the general public is considered to be inversely proportional to the quantity and quality of that scientist’s scientific work. In other words, the main idea is that the more popular the scientist is, the poorer the productivity and quality of her/his work. This is based on the biased perception of some, but by no means all scientists, that whomever is spending too much time and effort communicating science to the public must not be a very good scientist at all.

Do I have to tell you that I do not agree with that?

Anyway, again, Sagan did pay a price. Many attributed his tenure denial from Harvard University to this perception from fellow faculty, and it is well documented that this was an actual factor why he was not chosen to become a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the USA (the equivalent of the Royal Society of England). The members of these organizations are considered the TOP scientists in their respective fields and countries.

His Harvard tenure denial prompted his move to Cornell University, for which I have a soft spot (;-)… Plainly stated, Harvard’s loss, Cornell’s gain. GO RED!

Ironically, after being denied NAS membership, the NAS itself gave him its highest honor, the Public Welfare Medal for his “distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare”… I’d like to think that the thoughts in Sagan’s head while receiving the award were something like “…why you little ##{^^^€>|{%!?…“, and in fact, if you see the picture of that event, that’s the kind of face that Sagan has.

Now my question to you, dear readers: what do you think, what is your perception? Are scientists called to share their science to laypeople? Are scientists who do it second-rate scientists? Ease tell me what you think!


Picture credit: socwall.com/desktop-wallpaper/15654/be-cool-like-carl-by-sa/

If you want to know more
Davidson K (1999) Carl Sagan: A Life. Wiley.

Ecklund EH et al. (2012) How academic biologists and physicists view science outreach. PLoS One. 2012;7(5):e36240.

Poundstone W (1999) Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos. Holt and Company.

Russo G (2010) Outreach: Meet the press. Nature 468: 465–467.
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