Carl Sagan and Cosmos

I am often asked by the pupils and students in class about events or people that inspired me. Sometimes I struggle to think on my feet as I do not wish to give a glib answer! For example, in the world of sport, I have always been fascinated by the effect football managers have. Brian Clough, Jock Stein and Alex Ferguson and the 3 men I would say stand out from the crowd. In Business, Donald Trump has always been someone I thought is incredible because he knows the importance of good PR. In many ways he is like a politician. And being an avid movie fan, I have always been inspired by the likes of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and James Cameron (I can't wait to see Avatar!).

However, one remarkable person from my childhood is not from the world of sport, movies, or business. That man is Carl Sagan.

Carl Sagan was a scientist who, when I was very young, made an epic TV show called Cosmos. Now that may not seem to amazing, but back in the early 1980s special effects and the power of imagination was limited to programmes like Star Trek, Doctor Who, Twilight Zone, and the underrated The Outer Limits.

Cosmos was a serious attempt at mainstream science. Now we have David Attenborough and his fantastic natural world programmes, but apart from The Sky at Night (which I still watch!!!), and Open University programmes science was absent from TV.

Carl Sagan took us on a voyage of discovery. He showed us the insides of great stars, speculated about life on other planets, enlightened us about the plight of scientists from history, educated me and others on what a Googol was and it's big, BIG brother, the Googolplex!

We saw comets, asteroids, planetary rings, supernovas, Red Giants and White Dwarfs, pulsars, quasars, black holes, galaxies, and even speculation on multi-universies... basically the meaning of life, the universe and everything, as Douglas Adams would say. (42, by the way.)

The one episode I recall stronger than the rest was the Italian kid on his scooter who sets off for a journey around town and the countryside while his brother waits on a park bench. But the scooter kid travels at the speed of light. He wizzes around the beautiful scenery, while his brother waits. When his trip was over he goes to the bench to meet his brother... who is an old man! Time stood still for the speed of light traveller, but not for the brother waiting.

Mind blowing stuff when you are 7 or 8 years old. In fact it is still mind blowing.

I bought the book some years ago but only this summer, when I returned from Ghana, did I find that Cosmos was available on DVD at long, long last. I made the purchase and spent a lot of my free time in the holidays recapturing my youth and expanding my mind once again.

Truly inspiring stuff. So Carl Sagan is one of the real heroes of my life. He was also an early pioneer of conservationism, and an ardent critic of the wastefulness of the Cold War. Billions of dollars and roubles were spent on creating death and destruction instead of building tools for peace.

I would like to think that in the next Great Library at Alexandria there will be a copy of Cosmos (book or DVD?) safely stored forever for future generations to travel in the 'starship of the imagination' and be blown across space and time in that dandelion.