A cosmic encounter
In November 1962, I was a sophomore at Park College (now Park University) in Parkville, Mo., when Carl Sagan gave a four-lecture series on life in outer space. As a reporter for the Park Stylus, the university’s newspaper, I caught up with him after the lecture. Because of my keen interest in his topic, I was thrilled to talk with him. At that time, Sagan was nationally famous but not yet world famous. His international fame didn’t occur until his award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which he narrated and co-wrote, aired on Public Broadcasting Service. During my interview, I asked Sagan about the possibility of life in outer space. His response, “The general conclusion which I draw is that the universe is teeming with life, and that in the next few years we will for the first time set foot on other worlds and make contact with the life that is on them.”
Barbara McDowell Whitt
M.A. ’68