Koch Entertainment was a music, film and television distribution company. It was purchased by E1 Entertainment in 2005 and now operates under the name E1 Entertainment.

History

The company began in 1975 as Koch International. Founded by Franz Koch, Koch International was an independent Austrian record label and music distribution company that specialized in German and classical music recordings.

For over 20 years, the company operated under the name Koch Entertainment, a music, film, and television distribution company that was started in 1987 by Franz's son Michael.

By 1991, Koch had become one of the first national independent distributors of domestic labels in the U.S. by offering an alternative to the traditional system of regional independent distribution or national major label distribution. In 1992, Koch was ranked #315 on ''Inc. Magazine''’s list of America’s 500 fastest-growing private companies, and has since grown into an entertainment conglomerate.

Koch expanded into the Canadian market in 1995 by forming the Toronto-based Koch Entertainment Canada. It was announced in 2005 that Koch was acquired by Canadian company Entertainment One (formerly ROW Entertainment for a purchase price of approximately $80 million dollars. As of January 2009, Koch has been rebranded under the name E1 Entertainment.

References

Category:Companies established in 1975 Category:Defunct media companies Category:Media companies of Austria

es:Koch Records pt:Koch Entertainment

Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Howard Shore
background	non_performing_personnel
birth name	Howard Leslie Shore
born	October 18, 1946Toronto, Ontario, Canada
occupation	composer, orchestrator, conductor, music producer
genre	Classical, Orchestra, Film Score
years active	1978–present
website	howardshore.com }}

Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer, notable for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, for which he won three Academy Awards. He is also a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg, having scored all but one of his films since 1979. Shore has also worked with Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, David Fincher and many other filmmakers.

He has also composed a few concert works including one opera, ''The Fly'', based on the plot (though not his score) of Cronenberg's 1986 film premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on 2 July 2008., a short piece Fanfare for the Wanamaker Organ and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and a short overture for the Swiss 21st Century Symphony Orchestra.

Shore is a three-time winner of the Academy Award, and has also won two Golden Globe Awards and four Grammy Awards. He is the uncle of film composer Ryan Shore.

Early life and career

Shore was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the son of Bernice (née Ash) and Mac Shore. He studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston after graduating from Forest Hill Collegiate Institute. From 1969 to 1972, he performed with the group Lighthouse. In 1970 he was the music director of Lorne Michaels and Hart Pomerantz's short-lived TV program ''The Hart & Lorne Terrific Hour''. Shore wrote the music for Canadian magician Doug Henning's magical/musical ''Spellbound'' in 1974, and he was the musical director for Lorne Michaels' hugely influential late-night NBC comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1975 to 1980, appearing in many musical sketches, including Howard Shore and His All-Nurse Band, and dressed as a beekeeper for a John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd performance of the Slim Harpo classic ''I'm a King Bee''. Shore also suggested the name for The Blues Brothers to Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.

Film scoring

1979–2000

Shore's first film score was to David Cronenberg's first major film ''The Brood'' (1979). He would go on to score all of Cronenberg's subsequent films, with the exception of The Dead Zone (1983), which was scored by Michael Kamen. The first film he scored that was not directed by Cronenberg was Martin Scorsese's ''After Hours''.

Following ''After Hours'', he scored ''The Fly'' (1986), again directed by Cronenberg. Two years later, he composed the score to ''Big'' (1988), directed by Penny Marshall and starring Tom Hanks. He then scored two more of David Cronenberg's films: ''Dead Ringers'' (1988) and ''Naked Lunch'' (1991).

During 1991, Shore composed the score for the highly acclaimed film ''The Silence of the Lambs'', starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, and directed by Jonathan Demme. He received his first BAFTA nomination for the score. The film became the third (and most recent) to win the five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress). Shore is the only living composer to have scored a "Top Five" Oscar winning film.

During 1993, he composed the scores for ''M. Butterfly'' (another collaboration with Cronenberg), ''Philadelphia'' (his second collaboration with Jonathan Demme), and ''Mrs. Doubtfire'', directed by Chris Columbus. The latter two films were highly successful; ''Philadelphia'' winning Tom Hanks his first Oscar.

Shore scored another three films in 1994: ''The Client'', ''Ed Wood'', and ''Nobody's Fool''. ''Ed Wood'' is notable for being one of the two films directed by Tim Burton that did not feature a score by Danny Elfman.

Shore continued to score numerous films from 1995–2001, including two David Fincher films, ''Seven'' (1995) and ''The Game'' (1997); also, he collaborated on two films with Cronenberg along with Tom Hanks' directorial debut, ''That Thing You Do!''.

2001–2005

Shore's major success came in 2001 with his score to ''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'', the first film in the highly acclaimed ''The Lord of the Rings trilogy''. The news that Shore would score the trilogy surprised some, since he was primarily associated with dark, ominous films and had never scored an epic of this scale. However, the score was hugely successful and won Shore his first Oscar, as well as a Grammy Award, and nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.

The following year, Shore composed the scores to ''Panic Room'', ''Gangs of New York'' (replacing Elmer Bernstein), and ''The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'', the second film in the trilogy. The latter two films were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, although neither won. Shore's score for ''The Two Towers'' was deemed ineligible for submission to the Academy, due to a new rule that disallowed the submission of scores which contained themes from previous work. This rule proved very unpopular, due to the fact that had it been present in earlier years, it would have invalidated various other sequel scores (such as ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'') from being nominated. As a result the Academy dispensed with this rule for future years. Shore did, however, receive a BAFTA nomination for ''Gangs of New York''.

In 2003 he composed the score for the final film in ''The Lord of the Rings trilogy'', ''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''. The film was the most successful film in the trilogy and the most successful of the year. Shore won his second Oscar for Best Original Score, as well as a third for Best Original Song for "Into the West", which he shared with Fran Walsh and Annie Lennox. The film was nominated for, and won a total of eleven Academy Awards, a record for the number of Oscars won by a single film, and a record that only two other films—Titanic (1997) and Ben-Hur (1959)—have matched. Shore also won his first Golden Globe, his third and fourth Grammy (the fourth for Best Song), and was nominated for a third BAFTA. The scores of ''The Lord of the Rings'' became one of the most successful film scores ever written, and the biggest success in Shore's career.

In 2004, Shore again collaborated with Martin Scorsese, scoring his epic film ''The Aviator''. He won a second Golden Globe for the score, becoming the first, and to date, the only, composer to have won consecutive Golden Globes in the Original Score category. He also received his sixth Grammy nominations, and his fifth BAFTA nomination.

He collaborated again with David Cronenberg in 2005 to score ''A History of Violence'', starring Viggo Mortensen. The film was a success and received two Oscar nominations. In 2006, he collaborated for the fourth time with Martin Scorsese, this time to score ''The Departed''. The film was highly successful and won four Oscars, including a long awaited win for Scorsese, and Best Picture.

Although Shore was originally commissioned to compose the soundtrack for ''King Kong'' (indeed, he had already recorded most of the music), he was later replaced by James Newton Howard due to "differing creative aspirations for the score" on his and the filmmakers' parts. This was a mutual agreement between himself and Peter Jackson. Despite this, Shore has a cameo near the end of ''King Kong'' as the conductor of the pit orchestra in the theater, performing portions of Max Steiner's score to the ''original 1933 version'' of the film.

2006–Present

In 2007, he composed the music for ''Soul of the Ultimate Nation'', an online multiplayer video game. The soundtrack is notable for being the first video game soundtrack to feature Lydia Kavina on the theremin. During 2007 he also composed the scores to ''The Last Mimzy'', and ''Eastern Promises'', the latter of which was another collaboration with David Cronenberg and earned Shore his fourth Golden Globe nomination. In 2008 he scored ''Doubt'', starring Meryl Streep and directed by John Patrick Shanley. The film was a success, earning five Oscar nominations.

In 2010, Shore composed the score to the ''third installment'' in the highly popular ''Twilight'' film series, following Carter Burwell and Alexandre Desplat, who scored the first and second films, respectively. He also replaced John Corigliano to score ''Edge of Darkness'', starring Mel Gibson.

Shore's next two projects are ''A Dangerous Method'', continuing his long-term collaboration with director David Cronenberg. He will also compose the score to Martin Scorsese's ''Hugo Cabret'', which will be his fifth collaboration with Scorsese. Both films are currently in post-production.

Shore's future projects include Robert Sigl's ''The Spider'' and Peter Jackson's ''The Hobbit'', which is currently in production. He is also set to compose the music to ''Sinatra'', and ''The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt'', both of which are being directed by Martin Scorsese and are due for release in 2011.

Conducting & performing

Since 2004, he has toured the world conducting local orchestras in the performance of his new symphonic arrangement of his highly acclaimed ''Lord of the Rings'' scores. The new work is entitled ''The Lord of the Rings: Symphony in Six Movements''. There are two movements for each of the movies, and an intermission between the second and third (or first and second, in some cases) movements. The concert presentation of the symphony also includes projected still images relating the music being performed to scenes from the films. Recently, however, Shore has been busy with other projects, leaving other conductors including Markus Huber, Alexander Mickelthwaite, and John Mauceri to lead the orchestras. April 24, 2008 marked the North American Live to Projection debut of ''Fellowship of the Ring'', with the score performed live by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ludwig Wicki. Wicki also conducted the Filene Center Orchestra at the Wolf Trap Farm Park in Vienna, Virginia on May 21 and 22, 2008 in the U.S. premiere of the Fellowship of the Ring Live to Projection. September 16, 2010 Shore conducted the RSO Vienna (Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra) which performed "In Dreams from The Fellowship of the Ring" at Hollywood in Vienna in Vienna, Austria.

Miscellany

Shore makes a cameo appearance on film in ''The Return of the King'' (extended edition) as a Guard of Rohan, during the drinking game at Edoras.

Shore was played by Neil Portnow in the 1989 film version of Bob Woodward's book ''Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi''.

Shore was commissioned by Macy's to write a Fanfare for the Store's 150th anniversary featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Wanamaker Organ, the world's largest playing pipe organ. The work was debuted in the Grand Court of Macy's Philadelphia Store on September 27, 2008 in a concert that drew reviews from most of the major East Coast newspapers.

Included in the soundtrack to the film ''The Departed'', was a version of the song "Comfortably Numb", written in part by Roger Waters. Shore later collaborated with Waters on the song "Hello, I Love You" for the soundtrack of the film "The Last Mimzy".

With John Lurie, Shore wrote the theme song for ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. The theme was carried over to ''The Tonight Show'' when O'Brien succeeded Jay Leno as host.

Shore's work is notable for including the scores for two out of only three sequel films that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The first was ''The Silence of the Lambs'' (sequel to the 1986 film ''Manhunter''), and the second, ''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King''. The only other sequel film to achieve this is ''The Godfather Part II''. Shore narrates a one-hour CBC Radio documentary/soundscape on music in thriller/suspense film genres also including references to radio dramas and other media. The episode was called "Unsettling Scores" and premiered on the program called Inside the Music.

Awards

Shore has received three Academy Award nominations, winning all of them, two for Best Original Music Score, for ''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' (2001), and ''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' (2003). He also won the Oscar for Best Original Song for "Into the West" from ''Return of the King''.

Shore has also received four Golden Globe nominations, winning two consecutive awards for ''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' (2003) and ''The Aviator'' (2004), making him the only the second composer (after Alan Menken) to have received consecutive Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Score. He also won three consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Score for each of the Lord of the Rings films, and received a second award in 2003 for the song "Into the West" from "Return of the King" in the category of Best Song. He has also received five BAFTA nominations, but has not won.

On June 11, 2007, Shore was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree from York University in Toronto for "his sweeping artistic vision".

Shore has also been honored with awards from The National Board of Review, Recording Academy Honors, The Broadcast Film Critics, Chicago Film Critics, Genie Award, World Soundtrack Award, New York's Gotham Award, and The Saturn Award for Science Fiction.

Shore is the first recipient of the Film & TV Music Award for Best Score for a Science Fiction Feature Film for ''The Last Mimzy''.

One September 16, 2010 he was awarded with the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award by the City of Vienna at the yearly film music gala concert Hollywood in Vienna.

Filmography

''The Brood'' (1979)

''Scanners'' (1981)

''Videodrome'' (1983)

''After Hours'' (1985)

''The Fly'' (1986)

''Big'' (1988)

''Dead Ringers'' (1988)

''Naked Lunch'' (1991)

''The Silence of the Lambs'' (1991)

''The Last of the Mohicans'' (1992)

''Mrs. Doubtfire'' (1993)

''Philadelphia'' (1993)

''M. Butterfly'' (1993)

''The Client'' (1994)

''Ed Wood'' (Grammy Nominee) (1994)

''Nobody's Fool'' (1994)

''Moonlight and Valentino'' (1995)

''Se7en'' (1995)

''Crash'' (1996)

''The Truth About Cats & Dogs'' (1996)

''That Thing You Do!'' (1996)

''Striptease'' (1996)

''The Game'' (1997)

''Cop Land'' (1997)

''eXistenZ'' (1999)

''Analyze This'' (1999)

''Dogma'' (1999)

''High Fidelity'' (2000)

''The Cell'' (2000)

''The Yards'' (2000)

''The Score'' (2001)

''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' (Oscar Winner, Grammy Winner & Golden Globe Nominee) (2001)

''Gangs of New York'' (2002)

''Panic Room'' (2002)

''Spider'' (2002)

''The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' (Grammy Winner) (2002)

''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' (2 Oscars Winner, 2 Golden Globes Winner & 2 Grammys Winner) (2003)

''The Aviator'' (Golden Globe Winner & Grammy Nominee) (2004)

''A History of Violence'' (2005)

''The Departed'' (Grammy Nominee) (2006)

''Soul of the Ultimate Nation'' (MMORPG) (2007)

''The Last Mimzy'' (2007)

''Eastern Promises'' (Golden Globe Nominee) (2007)

''Doubt'' (2008)

''The Betrayal'' (2008)

''The Twilight Saga: Eclipse'' (2010)

''Edge of Darkness'' (2010)

''A Dangerous Method'' (2011)

''Hugo Cabret'' (2011)

''The Spider'' (2011) ''Sinatra'' (2011) ''The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt'' (2011) ''The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'' (2012)

''Cosmopolis'' (2012)

''The Hobbit: There And Back Again'' (2013)

See also

List of noted film producer and composer collaborations

References

External links

Howard Shore at Soundtrackguide.net

Howard Shore at The Danish Filmmusic Society (DFS)

Howard Shore Interview at Tracksounds

Category:1946 births Category:People from Toronto Category:Berklee College of Music alumni Category:Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:Canadian film score composers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Saturday Night Live Band members

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Brandon Jennings
team	Milwaukee Bucks
number	3
position	Point guard
height ft	6
height in	1
weight lb	169
nationality	American
birth date	September 23, 1989
birth place	Compton, California
draft round	1
draft pick	10
draft year	2009
draft team	Milwaukee Bucks
high school	Dominguez HS (Compton, California)Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Virginia)
career start	2008
years1	2008–2009 | team1 Lottomatica Roma (Italy)
years2	–present | team2 Milwaukee Bucks
highlights	NBA All-Rookie First Team () Naismith Prep Player of the Year (2008) }}

Brandon Jennings (born September 23, 1989 in Compton, California) is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) who plays at point guard.

Jennings was a highly acclaimed high school player, averaging 32.7 points and 7.4 assists as a senior, and won all major player of the year awards in his senior year. After graduating from Oak Hill Academy, he decided to play professional basketball with the Italian club Lottomatica Roma instead of playing collegiately for the University of Arizona Wildcats, leading to controversy and debate on the NBA's "prep-to-pro" policy adopted in 2006. After a year in Italy, Jennings declared for the 2009 NBA Draft and was selected 10th overall by the Bucks.

Early life

Brandon Jennings was born to Alice Knox. He has a brother named Terrence Phillips.

High school

Jennings attended Dominguez High School in Compton, California for his freshman and sophomore year. Before his junior year, Jennings transferred to powerhouse Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia. In his last year of high school, Jennings averaged 32.7 points, 7.4 assists, and 5.1 rebounds per game and set the school record for points in a season. This performance earned him some of high school basketball’s most prestigious awards: the 2008 Naismith Prep Player of the Year Award, 2007–08 Gatorade Player of the Year (Virginia), 2008 Parade Magazine Player of the Year and 2008 EA Sports Player of the Year. He led his 2006–2007 team to a 41–1 record and the top ranking in the ''USA Today'' Super 25 list of high school teams. He was rated as the nation's #1 high school basketball prospect in the class of 2008 by Scout.com, the #1 prospect in the ESPNU 150, and the #4 prospect by Rivals.com.

College plans

In August 2006, he chose to attend USC. On April 24, 2007, he decided instead to join the University of Arizona Wildcats, citing Arizona's quality academic faculty and his desire to play with Jerryd Bayless. (Bayless left after one season to enter the 2008 NBA Draft.) In November 2007, SLAM Magazine’s third edition of PUNKS featured Jennings on the cover along with three other top-rated high school guards (Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans and Lance Stephenson).

In June 2008, Jennings attended the premiere of Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch's basketball movie ''Gunnin' For That #1 Spot'' at the Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem. Also attending were Kevin Love, Lance Stephenson, Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez, DJ Augustin, and Adam Yauch. The film follows eight top high school players—including Jennings—from their hometowns to NYC, for the 2006 Elite 24 at Rucker Park.

In June 2008, Jennings announced that he was considering becoming the first American to skip college to play professionally in Europe. The NBA requires players to be at least 19 years old and one year removed from high school before entering the league, meaning that Jennings could not enter the 2008 NBA draft. Jennings declared that his goal was to play in the NBA and that playing overseas instead of at an American college could be his best route to gain experience and make money until he was eligible to join the NBA.

Italian career

On July 16, 2008, Jennings signed with Lottomatica Roma of the Italian Lega A. The contract he signed with Roma was for $1.65 million net income guaranteed and after earning the contract with Lottomatica, Under Armour gave Jennings a $2 million contract to showcase their products in the Euroleague. Jennings was the first player to play for a European team rather than play for a college basketball team since the NBA's age restriction rule was implemented.

In the Italian Lega A 2008-09 season, Jennings averaged in 27 games, 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.5 steals in 17.0 minutes per game. He shot 35.1 percent from the field and 20.7 percent from 3 point range in Lega A play. In 16 Euroleague games, Jennings averaged 7.6 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.2 steals in 19.6 minutes per game. In the Euroleague he shot 38.7 percent from the field and 26.8 percent from 3 point range.

NBA career

2009 NBA Draft

Jennings was selected tenth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2009 NBA Draft. He became the first player who skipped college to play professional basketball in Europe to be drafted by an NBA team. Jennings also made a notable appearance at the draft. He had initially decided not to attend the draft and preferred to be at a family function during the draft. After he was drafted by the Bucks, he left the family function and headed to Madison Square Garden. He later came out on stage after the 14th pick was announced to have his picture taken with NBA commissioner David Stern, just like all drafted players who attend the draft.

Rookie season

During Jennings's NBA regular season debut on October 30, 2009, against the Philadelphia 76ers, Jennings recorded 17 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, and hit 2 three-point shots, just shy of a triple-double, and played 34 minutes. In his second game, on October 31, 2009, against the Detroit Pistons, also the debut in Bradley Center, Jennings scored 16 points during the third quarter and a team-high 24 points for the game to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to their first victory of the 2009–10 regular season.

On November 14, 2009, after a scoreless first quarter, Jennings scored 29 points in the 3rd quarter against Golden State en route to a total of 55 points in the game to break the team record for most points by a rookie previously set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1970. Jennings's performance was the most points scored by a rookie since Earl "The Pearl" Monroe scored 56 in 1968. He became the youngest player to ever score 55, collecting the second-highest total for a player under 21, behind only LeBron James's 56 points in March 2005, and the second-most points scored by a Milwaukee Buck (behind Michael Redd's 57 in 2006). On February 2, 2010, he was selected to compete in the Skills Challenge.

2010–11 season

On October 30, 2010, Jennings recorded his first ever triple double, with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists against the Charlotte Bobcats. On December 15, 2010, Jennings broke his left foot against the San Antonio Spurs when he came down awkwardly on his ankle. Despite the injury, he played 30 minutes the following game against the Jazz. The team later confirmed that Jennings would miss the next four to six weeks as he recovered from surgery to repair a fracture in his left foot. He had been averaging 18.7 points per game before the injury. Jennings missed a total of 19 games with the injury before returning on January 29, 2011 in a 91-81 home victory over the New Jersey Nets.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2009–10 | style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee | 82 || 82 || 32.6 || .371 || .374 || .817 || 3.4 || 5.7 || 1.3 || .2 || 15.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2010–11 | style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee | 63 || 61 || 34.4 || .390 || .323 || .809 || 3.7 || 4.8 || 1.5 || .3 || 16.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Career | style="text-align:left;"| | 145 || 143 || 33.4 || .379 || .352 || .813 || 3.6 || 5.3 || 1.4 || .3 || 15.8

Playoffs

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2009-10 | style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee | 7 || 7 || 35.6 || .408 || .293 || .808 || 3.0 || 3.6 || 1.1 || .6 || 18.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Career | style="text-align:left;"| | 7 || 7 || 35.6 || .408 || .293 || .808 || 3.0 || 3.6 || 1.1 || .6 || 18.7

Awards

2005 Press Telegram Freshmen Player of the Year

Named the Most Valuable Player of the 2006 Les Schwab Invitational Tournament

Co-MVP of the 2007 Elite 24 Hoops Classic (with Tyreke Evans)

2007 Las Vegas Easter Classic Most Valuable Player

2007 NBAPS Top 100 High School Camp Best Playmaker

2007 The Goazcats.com Showdown Most Valuable Player

2008 Naismith Male Player of the year

2007–08 Gatorade Player of the year Virginia

2008 Parade Magazine Player of the Year

2008 EA SPORTS National Player of the Year

2008 McDonald's All-American

2007–08 MaxPreps National Player of the Year

2008 Jordan Brand Classic Most Valuable Player for the East

No. 1 rated senior by ESPN (2008)

No. 1 rated senior by Van Coleman Hoopmaster (2008)

No. 1 rated senior by Clark Franics Hoopscoop (2007 and 2008)

No. 1 rated senior by Dave Telep Scout.com 2008

Eastern Conference NBA Rookie of the Month (Oct./Nov. 2009)

Eastern Conference NBA Rookie of the Month (Dec. 2009)

Eastern Conference NBA Rookie of the Month (Jan. 2010)

2009-10 NBA 1st Team All-Rookie (unanimous selection)

Records

NBA records

Youngest player in NBA history to score 50 or more points in a game

:* :*55, Milwaukee Bucks vs. Golden State Warriors,

Ranks 2nd in NBA history in:

Field goals made, quarter

:*12, third quarter, Milwaukee Bucks vs. Golden State Warriors, :*Tied with six other players who have made 12 field goals in a quarter :*NBA record is held by David Thompson, with 13

Milwaukee Bucks franchise records ''Rookie'' Points, game, rookie: 55, vs. Golden State Warriors, :*Tied with multiple players for 4th highest tally in NBA history by a rookie Field goals made, game, rookie: 21, vs. Golden State Warriors,

''Franchise'' Points, half: 45, second half, vs. Golden State Warriors, Points, quarter: 29, third quarter, vs. Golden State Warriors, Field goals made, half: 17, second half, vs. Golden State Warriors, Field goals made, quarter: 12, third quarter, vs. Golden State Warriors,

Charity

After an earthquake in Italy while he was playing there in April 2009, Jennings donated $50,000 to support victims.

Jennings participated in Steve Nash's Showdown in Chinatown charity soccer match in New York City on June 24, 2010.

References

External links

Brandon's Official Website

NBA.com Profile

Profile on Rivals.com

Profile on Scout.com

Brandon Jennings News

High school hoops star struggles abroad: Picking Italy over college starts to backfire for Jennings

Category:1989 births Category:American basketball players Category:American expatriate basketball people in Italy Category:African American basketball players Category:Basketball players from California Category:Basketball players from Virginia Category:Living people Category:McDonald's High School All-Americans Category:Milwaukee Bucks draft picks Category:Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Category:People from Compton, California Category:Sportspeople from Los Angeles, California Category:Point guards Category:Pallacanestro Virtus Roma players Category:Milwaukee Bucks players

cs:Brandon Jennings de:Brandon Jennings es:Brandon Jennings fr:Brandon Jennings gl:Brandon Jennings hr:Brandon Jennings it:Brandon Jennings he:ברנדון ג'נינגס lv:Brendons Dženingss lt:Brandon Jennings ja:�?��?��?��?��?��?�ジェ�?��?�グス pl:Brandon Jennings pt:Brandon Jennings ru:Дженнинг�?, Брендон simple:Brandon Jennings fi:Brandon Jennings tr:Brandon Jennings zh:�?兰登·詹�?斯

Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Carl Sagan
birth date	November 09, 1934
birth place	Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
residence	United States
nationality	American
death date	December 20, 1996
death place	Seattle, Washington, U.S.
death cause	Pneumonia
education	Rahway High School
alma mater	University of Chicago,Cornell University
field	Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Astrobiology, Space science, Planetary science
work institutions	Cornell University Harvard University Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory University of California, Berkeley
alma mater	University of Chicago (B.A.), (B.Sc.), (M.Sc.), (Ph.D.)
known for	Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) ''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'' ''Cosmos'' Voyager Golden Record Pioneer plaque ''Contact'' ''Pale Blue Dot''
prizes	Oersted Medal (1990) NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (twice) Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction (1978) National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal (1994) }}

Carl Edward Sagan () (November 9, 1934 December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in the space and natural sciences. During his lifetime, he published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he advocated skeptical inquiry and the scientific method. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

Sagan became world-famous for his popular science books and for the award-winning 1980 television series ''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'', which he narrated and co-wrote. A book to accompany the program was also published. Sagan also wrote the novel ''Contact'', the basis for the 1997 film of the same name.

Early life

Carl Sagan was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to a Ukrainian Jewish family. His father, Sam Sagan, was an immigrant garment worker from Kamenets-Podolsk, Ukraine; his mother, Rachel Molly Gruber, a housewife. Carl was named in honor of Rachel's biological mother, Chaiya Clara, in Sagan's words, "the mother she never knew." Sagan graduated from Rahway High School in Rahway, New Jersey, in 1951.

He had one sister, Carol, and the family lived in a modest apartment near the Atlantic Ocean, in Bensonhurst, a Brooklyn neighborhood. According to Sagan, they were Reform Jews, the most liberal of the three main Jewish groups. Both Sagan and his sister agree that their father was not especially religious, but that their mother "definitely believed in God, and was active in the temple ... and served only Kosher meat." During the height of the Depression, his father had to accept a job as a theater usher.

According to biographer Keay Davidson, Sagan's "inner war" was a result of his close relations with both his parents, who were in many ways "opposites." Sagan traced his later analytical urges to his mother, a woman who had known "extreme poverty as a child," and had grown up almost homeless in New York City during World War I and the 1920s. She had her own intellectual ambitions as a young woman, but they were blocked by social restrictions, because of her poverty, her being a woman and wife, and her Jewish religion. Davidson notes that she therefore "worshiped her only son, Carl. He would fulfill her unfulfilled dreams."

However, his "sense of wonder" came from his father, who was a "quiet and soft-hearted escapee from the Czar." In his free time, he gave apples to the poor, or helped soothe labor-management tensions within New York's "tumultuous" garment industry. Although he was "awed" by Carl's "brilliance, his boyish chatter about stars and dinosaurs," he took his son's inquisitiveness in stride, as part of his growing up. In his later years as a writer and scientist, Sagan would often draw on his childhood memories to illustrate scientific points, as he did in his book, ''Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors''. Sagan describes his parents' influence on his later thinking:

:''My parents were not scientists. They knew almost nothing about science. But in introducing me simultaneously to skepticism and to wonder, they taught me the two uneasily cohabiting modes of thought that are central to the scientific method.''

1939 World's Fair

Sagan recalls that one of his best experiences was when he was four or five years old, his parents took him to the 1939 New York World's Fair. The exhibits became a turning point in his life. He later recalled the moving map of the "America of Tomorrow" exhibit: "It showed beautiful highways and cloverleaves and little General Motors cars all carrying people to skyscrapers, buildings with lovely spires, flying buttresses — and it looked great!" At other exhibits, he remembered how a flashlight that shined on a photoelectric cell created a cracking sound, and how the sound from a tuning fork became a wave on an oscilloscope. He also witnessed the future media technology that would replace radio: television. Sagan wrote:

:''Plainly, the world held wonders of a kind I had never guessed. How could a tone become a picture and light become a noise?''

He also saw one of the Fair's most publicized events, the burial of a time capsule at Flushing Meadows, which contained mementos of the 1930s to be recovered by Earth's descendants in a future millennium. "The time capsule thrilled Carl," writes Davidson. As an adult, Sagan and his colleagues created similar time capsules, but ones that would be sent out into the galaxy. These were the Pioneer plaque and the ''Voyager Golden Record'' records, all of which were spinoffs of Sagan's memories of the World Fair.

World War II

During World War II, Sagan's family worried about the fate of their European relatives. Sagan, however, was generally unaware of the details of the ongoing war. He writes, "Sure, we had relatives who were caught up in the Holocaust. Hitler was not a popular fellow in our household ... But on the other hand, I was fairly insulated from the horrors of the war." His sister, Carol, said that their mother "above all wanted to protect Carl ... She had an extraordinarily difficult time dealing with World War II and the Holocaust." Sagan's book, ''The Demon-Haunted World'' (1996), included his memories of this conflicted period in his life, where his family dealt with the realities of the war in Europe, but tried to prevent it from undermining his optimistic spirit.

Inquisitiveness about nature

Soon after entering elementary school, he began to express a strong inquisitiveness about nature. Sagan recalled taking his first trips to the public library alone, at the age of five, when his mother got him a library card. He wanted to learn what stars were, since none of his friends or their parents could give him a clear answer: :''I went to the librarian and asked for a book about stars ... And the answer was stunning. It was that the Sun was a star but really close. The stars were suns, but so far away they were just little points of light ... The scale of the universe suddenly opened up to me. It was a kind of religious experience. There was a magnificence to it, a grandeur, a scale which has never left me. Never ever left me.''

About the time he was six or seven, he and a close friend took trips to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. While there, they went to the Hayden Planetarium and walked around the museum's exhibits of space objects, such as meteorites, and displays of dinosaurs and animals in natural settings. Sagan writes about those visits: :''I was transfixed by the dioramas — lifelike representations of animals and their habitats all over the world. Penguins on the dimly lit Antarctic ice; ... a family of gorillas, the male beating his chest, ... an American grizzly bear standing on his hind legs, ten or twelve feet tall, and staring me right in the eye.''

His parents helped nurture his growing interest in science by buying him chemistry sets and reading materials. His interest in space, however, was his primary focus, especially after reading science fiction stories by writers such as Edgar Rice Burroughs, which stirred his imagination about life on other planets, such as Mars. According to biographer Ray Spangenburg, these early years as Sagan tried to understand the mysteries of the planets, became a "driving force in his life, a continual spark to his intellect, and a quest that would never be forgotten."

Education and scientific career

He attended the University of Chicago, where he participated in the Ryerson Astronomical Society, received a bachelor of arts with general and special honors in 1954, a bachelor of science in 1955, and a master of science in physics in 1956 before earning a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics in 1960. During his time as an undergraduate, Sagan worked in the laboratory of the geneticist H. J. Muller. From 1960 to 1962 Sagan was a Miller Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1962 to 1968, he worked at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Sagan lectured and did research at Harvard University until 1968, when he moved to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He became a full Professor at Cornell in 1971, and he directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies there. From 1972 to 1981, Sagan was the Associate Director of the Center for Radio Physics and Space Research at Cornell.

Sagan was associated with the American space program from its inception. From the 1950s onward, he worked as an advisor to NASA, where one of his duties included briefing the Apollo astronauts before their flights to the Moon. Sagan contributed to many of the robotic spacecraft missions that explored the solar system, arranging experiments on many of the expeditions. He conceived the idea of adding an unalterable and universal message on spacecraft destined to leave the solar system that could potentially be understood by any extraterrestrial intelligence that might find it. Sagan assembled the first physical message that was sent into space: a gold-anodized plaque, attached to the space probe Pioneer 10, launched in 1972. Pioneer 11, also carrying another copy of the plaque, was launched the following year. He continued to refine his designs; the most elaborate message he helped to develop and assemble was the Voyager Golden Record that was sent out with the Voyager space probes in 1977. Sagan often challenged the decisions to fund the Space Shuttle and Space Station at the expense of further robotic missions.

Sagan taught a course on critical thinking at Cornell University until he died in 1996 from pneumonia, a few months after finding that he was in remission of myelodysplastic syndrome.

Scientific achievements

Sagan's contributions were central to the discovery of the high surface temperatures of the planet Venus. In the early 1960s no one knew for certain the basic conditions of that planet's surface, and Sagan listed the possibilities in a report later depicted for popularization in a Time-Life book, ''Planets''. His own view was that Venus was dry and very hot as opposed to the balmy paradise others had imagined. He had investigated radio emissions from Venus and concluded that there was a surface temperature of . As a visiting scientist to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he contributed to the first Mariner missions to Venus, working on the design and management of the project. Mariner 2 confirmed his conclusions on the surface conditions of Venus in 1962.

Sagan was among the first to hypothesize that Saturn's moon Titan might possess oceans of liquid compounds on its surface and that Jupiter's moon Europa might possess subsurface oceans of water. This would make Europa potentially habitable for life. Europa's subsurface ocean of water was later indirectly confirmed by the spacecraft Galileo. Sagan also helped solve the mystery of the reddish haze seen on Titan, revealing that it is composed of complex organic molecules constantly raining down onto the moon's surface.

He further contributed insights regarding the atmospheres of Venus and Jupiter as well as seasonal changes on Mars. Sagan established that the atmosphere of Venus is extremely hot and dense with pressures increasing steadily all the way down to the surface. He also perceived global warming as a growing, man-made danger and likened it to the natural development of Venus into a hot, life-hostile planet through a kind of runaway greenhouse effect. Sagan and his Cornell colleague Edwin Ernest Salpeter speculated about life in Jupiter's clouds, given the planet's dense atmospheric composition rich in organic molecules. He studied the observed color variations on Mars' surface and concluded that they were not seasonal or vegetational changes as most believed but shifts in surface dust caused by windstorms.

Sagan is best known, however, for his research on the possibilities of extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by radiation.

He is also the 1994 recipient of the Public Welfare Medal, the highest award of the National Academy of Sciences for "distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare." He was denied membership in the Academy, reportedly because his media activities made him unpopular with many other scientists.

Sagan's ability to convey his ideas allowed many people to better understand the cosmos — simultaneously emphasizing the value and worthiness of the human race, and the relative insignificance of the Earth in comparison to the universe. He delivered the 1977 series of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in London. He hosted and, with Ann Druyan, co-wrote and co-produced the highly popular thirteen-part PBS television series ''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'' modeled on Jacob Bronowski's ''The Ascent of Man''.

Sagan was a proponent of the search for extraterrestrial life. He urged the scientific community to listen with radio telescopes for signals from intelligent extraterrestrial life-forms. So persuasive was he that by 1982 he was able to get a petition advocating SETI published in the journal ''Science'' and signed by 70 scientists including seven Nobel Prize winners. This was a tremendous turnaround in the respectability of this controversial field. Sagan also helped Dr. Frank Drake write the Arecibo message, a radio message beamed into space from the Arecibo radio telescope on November 16, 1974, aimed at informing extraterrestrials about Earth.

Sagan was chief technology officer of the professional planetary research journal ''Icarus'' for twelve years. He co-founded the ''Planetary Society'', the largest space-interest group in the world, with over 100,000 members in more than 149 countries, and was a member of the SETI Institute Board of Trustees. Sagan served as Chairman of the Division for Planetary Science of the American Astronomical Society, as President of the Planetology Section of the American Geophysical Union, and as Chairman of the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

At the height of the Cold War, Sagan became involved in public awareness efforts for the effects of nuclear war when a mathematical climate model suggested that a substantial nuclear exchange could upset the delicate balance of life on Earth. He was one of five authors — the "S" of the "TTAPS" report as the research paper came to be known. He eventually co-authored the scientific paper hypothesizing a global nuclear winter following nuclear war. He also co-authored the book ''A Path Where No Man Thought: Nuclear Winter and the End of the Arms Race'', a comprehensive examination of the phenomenon of nuclear winter.

''Cosmos'' covered a wide range of scientific subjects including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe. The series was first broadcast by the Public Broadcasting Service in 1980, winning an Emmy and a Peabody Award. It has been broadcast in more than 60 countries and seen by over 500 million people, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history. In addition, ''Time'' magazine ran a cover story about Sagan soon after the show broadcast, referring to him as "creator, chief writer and host-narrator of the new public television series Cosmos, [and] takes the controls of his fantasy spaceship."

Sagan also wrote books to popularize science, such as ''Cosmos'', which reflected and expanded upon some of the themes of ''A Personal Voyage'', and became the best-selling science book ever published in English; ''The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence'', which won a Pulitzer Prize; and ''Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science''. Sagan also wrote the best-selling science fiction novel ''Contact'' in 1985, based on a film treatment he wrote with his wife in 1979, but he did not live to see the book's 1997 motion picture adaptation, which starred Jodie Foster and won the 1998 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Adaption.

thumb|left|Pale Blue Dot: Earth is a bright pixel when photographed from "Voyager 1" six billion kilometers out (past Pluto). Sagan encouraged NASA to generate this image. He wrote a sequel to ''Cosmos,'' ''Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space'', which was selected as a notable book of 1995 by ''The New York Times''. He appeared on PBS' Charlie Rose program in January 1995. Sagan also wrote an introduction for the bestselling book by Stephen Hawking, ''A Brief History of Time''. Sagan was also known for his popularization of science, his efforts to increase scientific understanding among the general public, and his positions in favor of scientific skepticism and against pseudoscience, such as his debunking of the Betty and Barney Hill abduction. To mark the tenth anniversary of Sagan's passing, David Morrison, a former student of Sagan, recalled "Sagan's immense contributions to planetary research, the public understanding of science, and the skeptical movement" in ''Skeptical Inquirer''.

Sagan hypothesized in January 1991 that enough smoke from the 1991 Kuwaiti oil fires "might get so high as to disrupt agriculture in much of South Asia ..." He later conceded in ''The Demon-Haunted World'' that this prediction did not turn out to be correct: "it ''was'' pitch black at noon and temperatures dropped 4°–6°C over the Persian Gulf, but not much smoke reached stratospheric altitudes and Asia was spared." A 2007 study noted that modern computer models have been applied to the Kuwait oil fires, finding that individual smoke plumes are not able to loft smoke into the stratosphere, but that smoke from fires covering a large area, like some forest fires or the burning of cities that would be expected to follow a nuclear strike, would loft significant amounts of smoke into the stratosphere.

In his later years Sagan advocated the creation of an organized search for near Earth objects that might impact the Earth. When others suggested creating large nuclear bombs that could be used to alter the orbit of a NEO that was predicted to hit the Earth, Sagan proposed the Deflection Dilemma: If we create the ability to deflect an asteroid away from the Earth, then we also create the ability to deflect an asteroid towards the Earth — providing an evil power with a true doomsday bomb.

Billions and billions

From ''Cosmos'' and his frequent appearances on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', Sagan became associated with the catchphrase "billions and billions". Sagan stated that he never actually used the phrase in the ''Cosmos'' series. The closest that he ever came was in the book ''Cosmos'', where he talked of "billions ''upon'' billions": }}

However, his frequent use of the word ''billions'', and distinctive delivery emphasizing the "b" (which he did intentionally, in place of more cumbersome alternatives such as "billions with a 'b'", in order to distinguish the word from "millions" in viewers' minds), made him a favorite target of comic performers, including Johnny Carson, Gary Kroeger, Mike Myers, Bronson Pinchot, Penn Jillette, Harry Shearer, and others. Frank Zappa satirized the line in the song "Be In My Video", noting as well "atomic light". Sagan took this all in good humor, and his final book was entitled ''Billions and Billions'' which opened with a tongue-in-cheek discussion of this catchphrase, observing that Carson himself was an amateur astronomer and that Carson's comic caricature often included real science.

The popular perception of his characterization of large cosmic quantities continued to be a sense of wonderment at the vastness of space and time, as in his phrase "The total number of stars in the Universe is larger than all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the planet Earth." However, this famous saying was widely misunderstood, as he was in fact referring to the world being at a "critical branch point in history" as in the following quote from ''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'', Episode 8: "Journeys in Space and Time":

"Those worlds in space are as countless as all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the earth. Each of those worlds is as real as ours and every one of them is a succession of incidents, events, occurrences which influence its future. Countless worlds, numberless moments, an immensity of space and time. And our small planet at this moment, here we face a critical branch point in history: what we do with our world, right now, will propagate down through the centuries and powerfully affect the destiny of our descendants. It is well within our power to destroy our civilization and perhaps our species as well."

Sagan units

As a humorous tribute to him, a ''sagan'' has been defined as a unit of measurement equal to at least four billion, since the lower bound of a number conforming to the constraint of ''billions and billions'' must be two billion plus two billion.

Social concerns

Sagan believed that the Drake equation, on substitution of reasonable estimates, suggested that a large number of extraterrestrial civilizations would form, but that the lack of evidence of such civilizations highlighted by the Fermi paradox suggests technological civilizations tend to destroy themselves rather quickly. This stimulated his interest in identifying and publicizing ways that humanity could destroy itself, with the hope of avoiding such a cataclysm and eventually becoming a spacefaring species. Sagan's deep concern regarding the potential destruction of human civilization in a nuclear holocaust was conveyed in a memorable cinematic sequence in the final episode of ''Cosmos'', called "Who Speaks for Earth?" Sagan had already resigned from the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board and voluntarily surrendered his top secret clearance in protest over the Vietnam War. Following his marriage to his third wife (novelist Ann Druyan) in June 1981, Sagan became more politically active — particularly in opposing escalation of the nuclear arms race under President Ronald Reagan.

In March 1983, Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative — a multi-billion dollar project to develop a comprehensive defense against attack by nuclear missiles, which was quickly dubbed the "Star Wars" program. Sagan spoke out against the project, arguing that it was technically impossible to develop a system with the level of perfection required, and far more expensive to build than for an enemy to defeat through decoys and other means — and that its construction would seriously destabilize the nuclear balance between the United States and the Soviet Union, making further progress toward nuclear disarmament impossible.

When Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared a unilateral moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons, which would begin on August 6, 1985 — the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima — the Reagan administration dismissed the dramatic move as nothing more than propaganda, and refused to follow suit. In response, American anti-nuclear and peace activists staged a series of protest actions at the Nevada Test Site, beginning on Easter Sunday in 1986 and continuing through 1987. Hundreds of people were arrested, including Sagan, who was arrested on two separate occasions as he climbed over a chain-link fence at the test site.

Personal life and beliefs

Sagan was married three times — in 1957, to biologist Lynn Margulis, mother of Dorion Sagan and Jeremy Sagan; in 1968, to artist Linda Salzman, mother of Nick Sagan; and in 1981, to author Ann Druyan, mother of Alexandra Rachel (Sasha) Sagan and Samuel Democritus Sagan. His marriage to Druyan continued until his death in 1996.

Isaac Asimov described Sagan as one of only two people he ever met whose intellect surpassed his own. The other, he claimed, was the computer scientist and artificial intelligence expert Marvin Minsky.

Sagan wrote frequently about religion and the relationship between religion and science, expressing his skepticism about the conventional conceptualization of God as a sapient being. For example:

Some people think God is an outsized, light-skinned male with a long white beard, sitting on a throne somewhere up there in the sky, busily tallying the fall of every sparrow. Others — for example Baruch Spinoza and Albert Einstein — considered God to be essentially the sum total of the physical laws which describe the universe. I do not know of any compelling evidence for anthropomorphic patriarchs controlling human destiny from some hidden celestial vantage point, but it would be madness to deny the existence of physical laws.

In another description of his view of God, Sagan emphatically writes:

The idea that God is an oversized white male with a flowing beard who sits in the sky and tallies the fall of every sparrow is ludicrous. But if by God one means the set of physical laws that govern the universe, then clearly there is such a God. This God is emotionally unsatisfying... it does not make much sense to pray to the law of gravity.

Despite his criticism of religion, Sagan denied that he was an atheist, saying "An atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no god. By some definitions atheism is very stupid." In reply to a question in 1996 about his religious beliefs, Sagan answered, "I'm agnostic." Sagan maintained that the idea of a creator of the universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could challenge it would be an infinitely old universe. According to his last wife, Ann Druyan, he was not a believer: }}

In 2006, Ann Druyan edited Sagan's 1985 Glasgow ''Gifford Lectures in Natural Theology'' into a book, ''The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God'', in which he elaborates on his views of divinity in the natural world. Sagan is also widely regarded as a freethinker or skeptic; one of his most famous quotations, in ''Cosmos'', was, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" (called the "Sagan Standard" by some). This was based on a nearly identical statement by fellow founder of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, Marcello Truzzi, "An extraordinary claim requires extraordinary proof." This idea originated with Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827), a French mathematician and astronomer who said, "The weight of evidence for an extraordinary claim must be proportioned to its strangeness."

Late in his life, Sagan's books elaborated on his skeptical, naturalistic view of the world. In ''The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark'', he presented tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent ones, essentially advocating wide use of critical thinking and the scientific method. The compilation ''Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium'', published in 1997 after Sagan's death, contains essays written by Sagan, such as his views on abortion, and his widow Ann Druyan's account of his death as a skeptic, agnostic, and freethinker.

Sagan warned against humans' tendency towards anthropocentrism. He was the faculty adviser for the Cornell Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. In the ''Cosmos'' chapter "Blues For a Red Planet", Sagan wrote, "If there is life on Mars, I believe we should do nothing with Mars. Mars then belongs to the Martians, even if the Martians are only microbes."

Sagan was a user and advocate of marijuana. Under the pseudonym "Mr. X", he contributed an essay about smoking cannabis to the 1971 book ''Marihuana Reconsidered''. The essay explained that marijuana use had helped to inspire some of Sagan's works and enhance sensual and intellectual experiences. After Sagan's death, his friend Lester Grinspoon disclosed this information to Sagan's biographer, Keay Davidson. The publishing of the biography, ''Carl Sagan: A Life'', in 1999 brought media attention to this aspect of Sagan's life. Not long after his death, widow Ann Druyan had gone on to preside over the board of directors of NORML, a foundation dedicated to reforming cannabis laws.

In 1994, engineers at Apple Computer code-named the Power Macintosh 7100 "Carl Sagan" in the hope that Apple would make "billions and billions" with the sale of the PowerMac 7100. The name was only used internally, but Sagan was concerned that it would become a product endorsement and sent Apple a cease and desist letter. Apple complied, but engineers retaliated by changing the internal codename to "BHA" for "Butt-Head Astronomer". Sagan then sued Apple for libel, a form of defamation, in federal court. The court granted Apple's motion to dismiss Sagan's claims and opined in dicta that a reader aware of the context would understand Apple was "clearly attempting to retaliate in a humorous and satirical way", and that "It strains reason to conclude that Defendant was attempting to criticize Plaintiff's reputation or competency as an astronomer. One does not seriously attack the expertise of a scientist using the undefined phrase 'butt-head'." Sagan then sued for Apple's original use of his name and likeness, but again lost. Sagan appealed the ruling. In November 1995, an out of court settlement was reached and Apple's office of trademarks and patents released a conciliatory statement that "Apple has always had great respect for Dr. Sagan. It was never Apple's intention to cause Dr. Sagan or his family any embarrassment or concern."

Sagan briefly served as an adviser on Stanley Kubrick's film ''2001: A Space Odyssey''. Sagan proposed that the film would suggest, rather than depict, extraterrestrial superintelligence.

Sagan and UFOs

Sagan had some interest in UFO reports from at least 1964 when he had several conversations on the subject with Jacques Vallee. Though quite skeptical of any extraordinary answer to the UFO question, Sagan thought scientists should study the phenomenon, at least because there was widespread public interest in UFO reports.

Stuart Appelle notes that Sagan "wrote frequently on what he perceived as the logical and empirical fallacies regarding UFOs and the abduction experience. Sagan rejected an extraterrestrial explanation for the phenomenon but felt there were both empirical and pedagogical benefits for examining UFO reports and that the subject was, therefore, a legitimate topic of study."

In 1966, Sagan was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee to Review Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force's UFO investigation project. The committee concluded Blue Book had been lacking as a scientific study, and recommended a university-based project to give the UFO phenomenon closer scientific scrutiny. The result was the Condon Committee (1966–1968), led by physicist Edward Condon, and in their final report they formally concluded that UFOs, regardless of what any of them actually were, did not behave in a manner consistent with a threat to national security.

Ron Westrum writes that "The high point of Sagan's treatment of the UFO question was the AAAS's symposium in 1969. A wide range of educated opinions on the subject were offered by participants, including not only proponents such as James McDonald and J. Allen Hynek but also skeptics like astronomers William Hartmann and Donald Menzel. The roster of speakers was balanced, and it is to Sagan's credit that this event was presented in spite of pressure from Edward Condon". With physicist Thornton Page, Sagan edited the lectures and discussions given at the symposium; these were published in 1972 as ''UFOs: A Scientific Debate''. Some of Sagan's many books examine UFOs (as did one episode of ''Cosmos'') and he claimed a religious undercurrent to the phenomenon.

Sagan again revealed his views on interstellar travel in his 1980 ''Cosmos'' series. In one of his last written works, Sagan argued that the chances of extraterrestrial spacecraft visiting Earth are vanishingly small. However, Sagan did think it plausible that Cold War concerns contributed to governments misleading their citizens about UFOs, and that "some UFO reports and analyses, and perhaps voluminous files, have been made inaccessible to the public which pays the bills ... It's time for the files to be declassified and made generally available." He cautioned against jumping to conclusions about suppressed UFO data and stressed that there was no strong evidence that aliens were visiting the Earth either in the past or present.

Death

After a long and difficult fight with myelodysplasia, which included three bone marrow transplants, Sagan died of pneumonia at the age of 62 at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, on December 20, 1996. He was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Ithaca, New York.

Posthumous recognition

The 1997 movie ''Contact'', based on Sagan's novel of the same name and finished after his death, ends with the dedication "For Carl".

In 1997, the Sagan Planet Walk was opened in Ithaca New York. It is a walking scale model of the solar system, extending 1.2 km from the center of The Commons in downtown Ithaca, NY, to the Sciencenter, a hands-on museum. The exhibition was created in memory of Carl Sagan, who was an Ithaca resident and Cornell Professor. Professor Sagan had been a founding member of the museum's advisory board.

The landing site of the unmanned Mars Pathfinder spacecraft was renamed the ''Carl Sagan Memorial Station'' on July 5, 1997.

Sagan's son, Nick Sagan, wrote several episodes in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. In an episode of ''Star Trek: Enterprise'' entitled "Terra Prime", a quick shot is shown of the relic rover Sojourner, part of the Mars Pathfinder mission, placed by a historical marker at Carl Sagan Memorial Station on the Martian surface. The marker displays a quote from Sagan: "Whatever the reason you're on Mars, I'm glad you're there, and I wish I was with you." Sagan's student Steve Squyres led the team that landed the Spirit Rover and Opportunity Rover successfully on Mars in 2004.

Asteroid 2709 Sagan is also named in his honor.

On November 9, 2001, on what would have been Sagan's 67th birthday, the NASA Ames Research Center dedicated the site for the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Cosmos. "Carl was an incredible visionary, and now his legacy can be preserved and advanced by a 21st century research and education laboratory committed to enhancing our understanding of life in the universe and furthering the cause of space exploration for all time", said NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin. Ann Druyan was at the Center as it opened its doors on October 22, 2006.

Sagan has at least three awards named in his honor:

The Carl Sagan Memorial Award presented jointly since 1997 by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and the Planetary Society,

The Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science presented since 1998 by the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences (AAS/DPS) for outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist to the general public — Carl Sagan was one of the original organizing committee members of the DPS, and

The Carl Sagan Award for Public Understanding of Science presented by the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) — Sagan himself was the first recipient of the CSSP award in 1993. In 2006, the Carl Sagan Medal was awarded to astrobiologist and author David Grinspoon, the son of Sagan's friend Lester Grinspoon.

On December 20, 2006, the tenth anniversary of Sagan's death, a blogger, Joel Schlosberg, organized a Carl Sagan "blog-a-thon" to commemorate Sagan's death, and the idea was supported by Nick Sagan. Many members of the blogging community participated.

August 2007 the Independent Investigative Group IIG awarded Sagan posthumously a Lifetime Achievement Award. This honor has also been awarded to Harry Houdini and James Randi.

In 2008, Benn Jordan, also known as "The Flashbulb", released the album ''Pale Blue Dot: A Tribute to Carl Sagan''.

In 2009, clips from Carl Sagan's ''Cosmos'' were used as the basis for ''A Glorious Dawn'', the first video produced for the Symphony of Science, an educational music video production by composer John Boswell. Musician Jack White later released this song as a vinyl single under his record label Third Man Records. Additional clips were used in several followup videos which featured Sagan alongside other noted scientists and proponents of rational thinking, such as Richard Dawkins, Richard Feynman, Brian Greene, Lawrence M. Krauss, Bill Nye, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

In 2010, the 76th anniversary of Carl Sagan's birth, the second "Carl Sagan Day" was celebrated on November 6.

Awards and honors

Annual Award for Television Excellence — 1981 — The Ohio State University — PBS series ''Cosmos''

Apollo Achievement Award — National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal — National Aeronautics and Space Administration (twice)

Emmy — Outstanding Individual Achievement — 1981 — PBS series ''Cosmos''

Emmy — Outstanding Informational Series — 1981 — PBS series ''Cosmos''

Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal — National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Helen Caldicott Leadership Award — Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament

Hugo Award — 1981 — ''Cosmos''

Humanist of the Year — 1981 — Awarded by the American Humanist Association

In Praise of Reason Award — 1987 — Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal

Isaac Asimov Award — 1994 — Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal

John F. Kennedy Astronautics Award — American Astronautical Society

John W. Campbell Memorial Award — 1974 — ''Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective''

Joseph Priestley Award — "For distinguished contributions to the welfare of mankind"

Klumpke-Roberts Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific — 1974

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Medal — Awarded by the Soviet Cosmonauts Federation

Locus Award 1986 — ''Contact''

Lowell Thomas Award — Explorers Club — 75th Anniversary

Masursky Award — American Astronomical Society

Miller Research Fellowship — Miller Institute (1960–1962)

Oersted Medal — 1990 — American Association of Physics Teachers

Peabody Award — 1980 — PBS series ''Cosmos''

Prix Galbert — The international prize of Astronautics

Public Welfare Medal — 1994 — National Academy of Sciences

Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction — 1978 — ''The Dragons of Eden''

SF Chronicle Award — 1998 — ''Contact''

Named the "99th Greatest American" on the June 5, 2005, ''Greatest American'' show on the Discovery Channel

Publications

''Planets'' (LIFE Science Library), Sagan, Carl, Jonathan Norton Leonard and editors of Life, Time, Inc., 1966

''Intelligent Life in the Universe'', I.S. Shklovskii coauthor, Random House, 1966, ISBN 1-892803-02-X, 509 pgs (note: republished in 1998 by Emerson-Adams Press)

''UFOs: A Scientific Debate'', Thornton Page coauthor, Cornell University Press, 1972, 310 pgs

''Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence''. MIT Press, 1973, 428 pgs

''Mars and the Mind of Man'', Sagan, Carl, et al., Harper & Row, 1973, 143 pgs

''Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective'', Jerome Agel coauthor, Anchor Press, 1973, ISBN 0-521-78303-8, 301 pgs

''Other Worlds''. Bantam Books, 1975

''Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record'', Sagan, Carl, et al., Random House, ISBN 0-394-41047-5, 1978

''The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence''. Ballantine Books, 1978, ISBN 0-345-34629-7, 288 pgs

''Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science''. Ballantine Books, 1979, ISBN 0-345-33689-5, 416 pgs

''Cosmos''. Random house, 1980. Random House New Edition, May 7, 2002, ISBN 0-375-50832-5, 384 pgs

''The Cold and the Dark: The World after Nuclear War'', Sagan, Carl et al., Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985

''Comet'', Ann Druyan coauthor, Ballantine Books, 1985, ISBN 0-345-41222-2, 496 pgs

''Contact''. Simon and Schuster, 1985; Reissued August 1997 by Doubleday Books, ISBN 1-56865-424-3, 352 pgs

''A Path Where No Man Thought: Nuclear Winter and the End of the Arms Race'', Richard Turco coauthor, Random House, 1990, ISBN 0-394-58307-8, 499 pgs

''Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are'', Ann Druyan coauthor, Ballantine Books, October 1993, ISBN 0-345-38472-5, 528 pgs

''Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space''. Random House, November 1994, ISBN 0-679-43841-6, 429 pgs

''The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark''. Ballantine Books, March 1996, ISBN 0-345-40946-9, 480 pgs (note: the book was first published and copyrighted in 1995 with an errata slip inserted)

''Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium'', Ann Druyan coauthor, Ballantine Books, June 1997, ISBN 0-345-37918-7, 320 pgs

''The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God'', Carl Sagan (writer) & Ann Druyan (editor), 1985 Gifford lectures, Penguin Press HC, November 2006, ISBN 1-59420-107-2, 304 pgs

References

Further reading

External links

The Carl Sagan Portal

BBC Radio program "Great Lives" on Carl Sagan's life

A Man whose time Has come — Interview with Carl Sagan by Ian Ridpath, New Scientist 1974 July 4

Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization

Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science, presented by the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences (AAS/DPS)

Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute

Carl Sagan's Life and Legacy as Scientist, Teacher, and Skeptic, Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

Cosmos — Full Episodes and Clips streaming online for free — Hulu, Cosmos online for free

A Tribute to Carl Sagan: Our Place in the Universe, The Skeptics Society

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