Carl Sagan

Birth Name: Carl Edward Sagan

Date of Birth: November 9, 1934

Place of Birth: New York City, New York, U.S.

Date of Death: December 20, 1996

Place of Death: Seattle, Washington, U.S.

Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, science communicator, author, and professor. His work included research on the existence of extraterrestrial life, and promotion of the skeptical method of scientific inquiry. He assembled the Pioneer plaque and the Voyager Golden Record, the first physical messages sent into space. He published more than 600 scientific papers and over a dozen books, including Contact, on which the 1997 film was based, and co-wrote and narrated the series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.

Carl was the son of Rachel Molly (Gruber) and Samuel L. Sagan, who was a garment worker and movie theatre usher. His father was a Ukrainian Jewish emigrant, from Kamianets-Podilskyi, then in the Russian Empire. His mother was born in New York, to Ukrainian Jewish parents.

He was married to science documentary producer and director Ann Druyan, until his death. He had two children, including essayist, fiction writer, poet, and theorist of ecology, Dorion Sagan, with his former wife, evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis; a son, novelist and screenwriter Nick Sagan, with his former wife, artist and writer Linda Salzman Sagan; and two children, including author, television producer, filmmaker, and podcaster Sasha Sagan, with Ann.

Carl’s paternal grandfather was named Louis Sagan.

Carl’s paternal grandmother was named Etta Lisenbaum.

Carl’s maternal grandfather was named Louis Gruber (the son of Isaac Gruber). Louis was born in Sassow, Ukraine.

Carl’s maternal grandmother was Chaiya/Chaya Clara Klein (the daughter of Kalonymos Klein and Sara Jente Alter). Chaya was born in Sasiv, Zolochivs’kyi district, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. Kalonymos was the son of Yehudah Arieh Klein and Bashe.

Source: Genealogy of Carl Sagan – https://www.geni.com