Sagan, who died in 1996, was an astronomer and astrophysicist who was a respected, legitimate scientist, but also understood how to communicate the excitement of scientific knowledge and discovery to mass audiences through his books, including "Cosmos," which accompanied the 13-episode TV show "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage." The new series is hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson who, of course, brings his own personality to the story of how the universe was formed, how the laws of nature evolved and both humankind's place in the grand scheme of things and our insatiable hunger for learning and discovery of our origins. Tyson achieves what Sagan did, though: making science fun and interesting even for people who wouldn't know an igneous rock from a composite, but without either talking down to his audience or making them think they're being held against their will in a postgraduate physics lecture. Animated segments take us back to the age of Copernicus, and then to monk Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake for his passionate belief in Copernicus' finding that the Earth and planets revolve around the sun and that, in fact, the universe is incalculably immense. Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, documentary series, premiere episode airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on Fox, National Geographic, FX, FXX, FXM, Fox Sports 1 and 2, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo and Fox Life.
Reported by SFGate 7 hours ago.
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