The Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization is an annual $5,000 award presented in honor of the late scientist

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ...

Wonderfest Wonderfest is a nonprofit California corporation dedicated to informal science education. Wonderfest achieved corporate independence in September 2011. During the preceding fourteen years, Wonderfest was an educational project of, first, San Fra ...

, the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

Beacon of Science, to a scientist who has "contributed mightily to the public understanding and appreciation of science." The scientist receiving the prize must be a resident of one of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties, and have "a history of accomplishment in scientific research." Though administered by nonprofit Wonderfest, the Sagan Prize was funded by

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

in 2015, and by Annual Reviews in 2002 through 2010. (Lack of funding inhibited presentation of the Prize in the intervening years, 2011-2014.)

Sagan Prize recipients

The following have received the Carl Sagan Prize: * 2002 —

Andrew Fraknoi Andrew Fraknoi (born 1948) is a retired professor of astronomy recognized for his lifetime of work using everyday language to make astronomy more accessible and popular for both students and the general public. In 2017 Fraknoi retired from his p ...

, Professor of Astronomy,

Foothill College Foothill College is a public community college in Los Altos Hills, California. It is part of the Foothill–De Anza Community College District. It was founded on January 15, 1957, and offers 79 Associate degree programs, 1 Bachelor's degree pro ...

* 2003 — Kevin Padian, Professor of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley * 2004 —

Alex Filippenko Alexei Vladimir "Alex" Filippenko (; born July 25, 1958) is an American astrophysicist and professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley. Filippenko graduated from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California. He received a B ...

, Professor of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley * 2005 —

Jill Tarter Jill Cornell Tarter (born January 16, 1944) is an American astronomer best known for her work on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Tarter is the former director of the Center for SETI Research, holding the Bernard M. Oliver C ...

, Director, Center for SETI Research, SETI Institute * 2006 —

Paul Berg Paul Berg (born June 30, 1926) is an American biochemist and professor emeritus at Stanford University. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980, along with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger. The award recognized their con ...

, Professor of Biochemistry, Stanford University * 2007 —

Keith Devlin Keith J. Devlin (born 16 March 1947) is a British mathematician and popular science writer. Since 1987 he has lived in the United States. He has dual British-American citizenship.

, Executive Director, Human-Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute, Stanford * 2008 — Robert Sapolsky, Professor of Biology and Neurology, Stanford University * 2009 —

Geoff Marcy Geoffrey William Marcy (born September 29, 1954) is an American astronomer. He was an early influence in the field of exoplanet detection, discovery, and characterization. Marcy was a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berke ...

, Professor of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley * 2010 — Donald Kennedy, Emeritus President and Professor of Environmental Science, Stanford University * 2015 —

Seth Shostak Seth Shostak (born July 20, 1943) is an American astronomer and author, and is currently the senior astronomer for the SETI Institute. Shostak hosts SETI's weekly radio show/podcast '' Big Picture Science'', has played himself numerous times in T ...

, Senior Astronomer and Director, Center for SETI Research,

SETI Institute The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization incorporated in 1984 whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to use this knowledge to inspire and guide present and futu ...

* 2016 — Gibor Basri, Professor of the Graduate School, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley *2017 — Jennifer A. Doudna, Professor of Chemistry and of Molecular & Cell Biology,

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

*2018 —

Peter Gleick Peter H. Gleick (; born 1956) is an American scientist working on issues related to the environment. He works at the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California, which he co-founded in 1987. In 2003 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for his work ...

, Co-founder, President-emeritus,

Pacific Institute The Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security is an American non-profit research institute created in 1987 to provide independent research and policy analysis on issues of development, environment, and security, with a ...

*2019 —

Dan Werthimer Dan Werthimer is co-founder and chief scientist of the SETI@home project and directs other UC Berkeley SETI searches at radio, infrared and visible wavelengths, including the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Radio Emissions from Nearby Developed Int ...

, Co-founder and Chief Scientist,

Berkeley SETI Research Center The Berkeley SETI Research Center (BSRC) conducts experiments searching for optical and electromagnetic transmissions from intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations.

* 2021 — Alison Gopnik Wonderfest's Sagan Prize Selection Committee recommends each year's recipient to Wonderfest's Board of Directors, and the Board then formally confirms (or rejects) the recommendation. Wonderfest's long-term goal in presenting the Sagan Prize is to encourage science researchers to make science insights accessible to the general public — thereby promoting the scientific outlook and enlarging the concept of "scientific community."

References

External links

Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization
information from

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization Awards established in 2002 American science and technology awards Science and technology in the San Francisco Bay Area Education in the San Francisco Bay Area Carl Sagan