In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.

Ann Druyan was at the Center as it opened its doors on October 22 2006. His father Samuel Sagan was an immigrant garment worker from Russia in today's Ukraine. Sagan's views on religion have been interpreted as a form of pantheism comparable to Einstein's belief in Spinoza's God.

He advocated scientifically skeptical inquiry and the scientific method pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Sagan wrote the novel Contact the basis for a 1997 film of the same name. The book Cosmos was publiCarl Sagand to accompany the series.