| Ann Druyan | |
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| Born | June 13, 1949 Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Known for | Author |
Ann Druyan (born June 13, 1949) is an American author and media producer known for her involvement in many projects aiming to popularize and explain science. She is probably best-known as the last wife of the late Carl Sagan, and co-author of the Cosmos series and book, along with Sagan and Steven Soter.
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Beliefs and views
Druyan is an atheist, expressing the view in her writings that people can have a sense of awe and wonder about the unity of the cosmos without introducing the concept of a god.
According to Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post, who personally interviewed Druyan as well as Sagan before he died, before Druyan met Sagan her interest in science stemmed in part from her interest in the philosophy of Karl Marx. Achenbach wrote that she "had, at the time, rather vaporous standards of evidence," believing in the ancient astronauts of Erich von Daniken and that Immanuel Velikovsky had correctly deduced the truth about the solar system in the 1950s.[1] Druyan freely acknowledged this but her views on science changed significantly after she married Sagan.
Writings and projects
Druyan wrote the books Comet and Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, as well as sections of The Demon-Haunted World, with her late husband Carl Sagan. In addition, she wrote an introduction to The Cosmic Connection and the epilogue to Billions and Billions, both by Sagan. Alone, she wrote the novel A Famous Broken Heart.
In the areas of film and television, she was one of the writers for the television series Cosmos, and a producer of the film Contact. Most recently, she is the CEO and a co-founder of Cosmos Studios. In 2007 she was said to be working on an IMAX film on global warming as well as a sequel to Cosmos.
She has served on the Board of Directors of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws NORML for over 10 years[2], and is also the current president of the NORML Foundation Board of Directors.[3]
Other projects that she has been involved in include the selection of the music on the Voyager Golden Record mounted on the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes, and the Cosmos 1 spacecraft, which intended to demonstrate solar sail propulsion. The Cosmos 1 used a former Soviet submarine missile as a launch vehicle (in keeping with the "swords into plowshares" philosophy) but due to a malfunction in separation, the Cosmos 1 never reached stable orbit.
In January 2007, she was a juror at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival in the jury responsible for selecting the winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize, given to films that focus on science and technology.[4]
She attended and was a speaker at the Beyond Belief symposium in November 2006.
Druyan has also in 2009, released a series of podcasts called "At Home in the Cosmos with Annie Druyan" to personally talk about Carl Sagan, her views on science, marijuana and her love affair with Sagan.
Quotes
I think the roots of this antagonism to science run very deep. They're ancient. We see them in Genesis, this first story, this founding myth of ours, in which the first humans are doomed and cursed eternally for asking a question, for partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. It's puzzling that Eden is synonymous with paradise when, if you think about it at all, it's more like a maximum-security prison with twenty-four hour surveillance. It's a horrible place. Adam and Eve have no childhood. They awaken full-grown. What is a human being without a childhood? Our long childhood is a critical feature of our species. It differentiates us, to a degree, from most other species. We take a longer time to mature. We depend upon these formative years and the social fabric to learn many of the things we need to know.—Ann Druyan talking to CSICOP, [5]
When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me—it still sometimes happens—and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don't ever expect to be reunited with Carl.—[1]
Awards
References
- ^ Achenbach, Joel (1999). Captured by Aliens: the search for life and truth in a very large universe. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684848562. pp. 95-6: "Her interest in science came primarily from her interest in the philosophy of Karl Marx. . . . Druyan herself had, at the time, rather vaporous standards of evidence for her many sundry beliefs (as she later acknowledged). She believed . . . that Immanuel Velikovsky in the 1950s had correctly deduced the truth about the solar system. . . . She believed in the ancient astronauts of Erich von Daniken."
- ^ "About NORML, Ann Druyan". http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=4493. Retrieved 2007-12-26.
- ^ "About NORML Foundation, Ann Druyan (President)". http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3439. Retrieved 2007-12-26.
- ^ "2007 Sundance Film Festival Jurors". Sundance Film Festival. http://festival.sundance.org/2007/festival/jurors.aspx. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
- ^ Ann Druyan Talks About Science, Religion, Wonder, Awe... and Carl Sagan
External links
- A Speech given by Ann Druyan at the 1997 annual convention of the Freedom From Religion Foundation
- Cosmos Studios
- A TV news report on Ann Druyan's comments at the dedication of SETI's Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, October 17, 2006.
- A response to Darren Schreiber at Beyond Belief 2006.
- BusinessWeek Online interview with Ann Druyan from 2001
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