Name Ann Druyan Role Author | ||
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Books Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Comet, A famous broken heart, Passport to the Universe Parents Pearl A. Goldsmith, Harry Druyan Movies and TV shows Similar People | ||
Children Sasha Sagan, Samuel Sagan | ||
Science vs religion on the unknown ann druyan
Ann Druyan ( ; born June 13, 1949) is an American writer and producer specializing in the communication of science. She co-wrote the 1980 PBS documentary series Cosmos, hosted by Carl Sagan, whom she married in 1981. She is the creator, producer, and writer of the 2014 sequel, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.
Contents
- Science vs religion on the unknown ann druyan
- Ann druyan pale blue dot and beyond
- Early life
- Career as an author
- Work in science
- Work in film and television
- Activism
- Honors
- Religious and philosophical views
- Awards
- References
She was the Creative Director of NASA's Voyager Interstellar Message Project, the golden discs affixed to both the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft.
Ann druyan pale blue dot and beyond
Early life
Druyan was born in Queens, New York, the daughter of Pearl A. (née Goldsmith) and Harry Druyan, who co-owned a knitware firm.
Career as an author
Druyan's first novel, A Famous Broken Heart, was published in 1977.
Druyan co-wrote six New York Times best-sellers with Carl Sagan, including: Comet, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, and The Demon-Haunted World. She is co-author, along with Carl Sagan, F. D. Drake, Timothy Ferris, Jon Lomberg and Linda Salzman Sagan, of Murmurs Of Earth : The Voyager Interstellar Record. She also wrote the updated introduction to Sagan's book The Cosmic Connection, and the epilogue of Billions and Billions. She edited and wrote the introduction to a book of Sagan's 1985 Gifford lectures, The Varieties of Scientific Experience.
Work in science
As creative director of NASA's Voyager Interstellar Message Project, Druyan worked with a team to design a complex message, including music and images, for possible alien civilizations. These golden phonograph records affixed to the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft are now beyond the outermost planets of the solar system and Voyager 1 has entered interstellar space. Both records have a projected shelf life of one billion years.
Druyan is a fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims for the Paranormal (CSICOP).
Druyan served as program director of the first solar sail deep space mission, Cosmos 1, launched on a Russian ICBM in 2005.
Druyan is involved in multiple Breakthrough Initiatives. With Frank Drake, Druyan is the co-chair of Breakthrough Message, and she is also a member of Breakthrough Starshot.
She is a member of the advisory board of The Carl Sagan Institute.
Work in film and television
Druyan wrote and produced the 1987 PBS NOVA episode Confessions of a Weaponeer on the life of President Eisenhower's Science Advisor, George Kistiakowsky.
In 2000, Druyan co-founded Cosmos Studios, Inc, with Joseph Firmage. As CEO of Cosmos Studios, Druyan produces science-based entertainment for all media. In addition to Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey, Cosmos Studios has produced Cosmic Africa, Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt, and the Emmy-nominated documentary Cosmic Journey: The Voyager Interstellar Mission and Message.
Druyan was one of the three writers of the TV series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, along with Carl Sagan and Steven Soter, and a producer for the motion picture Contact.
Druyan is the chief executive officer and the co-founder of Cosmos Studios. In 2009, she distributed a series of podcasts called At Home in the Cosmos with Annie Druyan in which she described her works, the life of her husband, Carl Sagan, and their marriage.
In 2011, it was announced that Druyan would be part of the writing and production teams for a sequel to Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, to be called Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which began airing in March 2014. Episodes premiered on Fox and also aired on National Geographic Channel on the same night.
Activism
Druyan has served on the Board of Directors of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) for over 10 years and was president from 2006 to 2010.
Honors
In November 2006, Druyan was a speaker at "Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival".
In January 2007, she was a juror at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, responsible for selecting the winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize for films about science and technology.
Religious and philosophical views
In an interview with Joel Achenbach of The Washington Post, Druyan stated that her early interest in science stemmed from a fascination with Karl Marx. Achenbach commented that "She had, at the time, rather vaporous standards of evidence," a reference to her belief in the ancient astronauts of Erich von Däniken and the theories of Immanuel Velikovsky pertaining to the Solar System. Druyan freely acknowledged her past views and also said that they changed dramatically after marrying Carl Sagan.