“We’re in the galactic boondocks,” said Carl Sagan of our own neighborhood, the Milky Way, in a newly resurfaced radio interview about extraterrestrial life with WFMT host Studs Terkel.
The Cornell professor and NASA advisor was unmatched in his ability to make the esoteric concepts of astronomy and astrophysics understandable to millions of people around the world. Not only did he inspire a whole new generation of scientists, he instilled an admiration and curiosity for the natural world in many who were exposed to his words.
A new PBS Blank on Blank series, The Experimenters, is dedicated to “uncovering interviews with the icons of science, technology, and innovation.” As part of their initiative, Blank on Blank discovered this rare conversation between Sagan and Terkel about mankind’s place in the universe and our ongoing search for extraterrestrial life.
The interview was conducted in 1985, the same year as the release of Contact, the science fiction novel (and later inspiration for the Hollywood film Contact) that Sagan wrote with his wife, author Ann Druyan. Coincidentally, Sagan mused about the misguided representations of aliens in blockbuster movies as humanoid monsters and predatory xenomorphs. According to Sagan, only Steven Spielberg came remotely close to portraying what he considered to be a believable extraterrestrial in his film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. (Though, he did fault E.T. for being “sweet but not smart.”)
Sagan knew more than he let on. But he couldn't tell what he knew. To read more and listen to the audio, click here.