"Carl took on the military-industrial complex. He campaigned around the world for an end to the production of weapons of mass destruction. To him it was a perversion of science." -- Ann Druyan
Ann Druyan (born June 13, 1949) is an American author and producer specializing in productions about cosmology and popular science. She made substantial contributions to the PBS documentary series Cosmos and is perhaps best known as the wife of late scientist and educator Carl Sagan.
"A lot of people have this ego need that makes them want to believe that Earth is the center of the universe and humans are the most important species, the supreme expression of creation.""All of science to me, everything that we have learned, is important to the extent that it brings us to our senses.""For most of the history of our species we were helpless to understand how nature works. We took every storm, drought, illness and comet personally. We created myths and spirits in an attempt to explain the patterns of nature.""I guess I so desperately want to see us put this planet right. It's so horrifying to me that a fifth of us are starving every night, and that forty thousand children die every single day.""I've been thinking about the distorted view of science that prevails in our culture. I've been wondering about this, because our civilization is completely dependent on science and high technology, yet most of us are alienated from science.""In 1974, I first met Carl. I was 25 years old. I am 51 now.""My knowledge of science came from being with Carl, not from formal academic training. Carl gave me a thrilling tutorial in science and math that lasted the 20 years we were together.""People think that if you are a scientist you have to give up that joy of discovery, that passion, that sense of the great romance of life. I say that's completely opposite of the truth.""This planet seems to be in such sorry shape. And I can't ever think about the rest of the universe without coming back home and thinking what the implications for life here would be if we were to really have some definitive proof of extraterrestrial life.""Well, I actually grew up in the sixties. I feel very lucky, actually, that that was my slice of time that I was dealt. Let's remember that the real motivation in the sixties, and even in the fifties, was the Cold War."
As an agnostic, Druyan holds that belief in a deity is not necessary to a healthy appreciation for life and a sense of unity with the universe.
In an interview with Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post, Druyan stated that her early interest in science stemmed from a fascination with Karl Marx. Achenbach commented that "She had, at the time, rather vaporous standards of evidence," a reference to her belief in the ancient astronauts of Erich von Daniken and the theories of Immanuel Velikovsky pertaining to the solar system. Druyan freely acknowledged her past views but also asserted that they changed dramatically after marrying Carl Sagan.
Along with Carl Sagan and Steven Soter, Druyan was one of the writers for the television series Cosmos and a producer for the film Contact.
She is the CEO and 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. In 2009, Druyan released a series of podcasts entitled At Home in the Cosmos with Annie Druyan in which she describes, in detail, the life of husband Carl Sagan, her works, and their marriage.
Druyan and Sagan co-wrote the books Comet, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, and sections of The Demon-Haunted World. She also wrote the updated introduction to Sagan's The Cosmic Connection, the epilogue to Billions and Billions, and her solo novel A Famous Broken Heart.
As a scientist, Druyan was responsible for the selection of music on the Voyager Golden Record for the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 solar missions. She also sponsored the Cosmos 1 spacecraft, which intended to demonstrate solar sail propulsion technology as a means of interstellar space travel. Unfortunately, The Cosmos 1 had a sub-orbital launch failure when the modified Soviet submarine missile used as a launch vehicle malfunctioned.
Druyan has served on the Board of Directors of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws NORML for over 10 years, and is also the current president of the NORML Foundation Board of Directors.
In November 2006, Druyan was a speaker at Science, Religion, Reason and Survival.
In January 2007, she was a juror at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, responsible for selecting the winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize for films about science and technology.
"It is a great tragedy that science, this wonderful process for finding out what is true, has ceded the spiritual uplift of its central revelations: the vastness of the universe, the immensity of time, the relatedness of all life, and life’s preciousness on our tiny planet."
—Ann Druyan interviewed by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
"I really believe that the marijuana laws are a terrible injustice. They make no sense scientifically, ethically, legally, or any way. They cost a fortune to enforce and we incarcerate hundreds of thousands of people who have done nothing else, but possess or distribute marijuana. Maybe it's because I'm a child of the 60's and marijuana has been such a positive part of my life. I have never seen it as being addictive, having spent weeks, and months, and days of my life (and years) without using marijuana in any form.
For me, it's a kind of a sacrament, something that should be used wisely and in the context of a loving family existence. There's a place for alcohol too, but there's no reason why adults shouldn't be allowed to do something which not only doesn't add harm to themselves or others, but is a way to enhance the beauty of life, the beauty of eating, of listening to music, of being with friends and family, of being with the one you love."
—Ann Druyan in the video podcast At Home in the Cosmos with Annie Druyan
"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."
—Ann Druyan in the Notable Names Database
"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 interviewed by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
