Carl Sagan, the scientist who helped us understand our place among the stars, has established his own place among the volumes of one of the world's largest libraries.
In a ceremony on site, The Library of Congress announced Tuesday the opening of an archive dedicated to Sagan and Ann Druyan, Sagan's professional collaborator and widow. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane provided funding for the installation, which is officially called The Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive.
See also: Carl Sagan's 5 Greatest Contributions to Science
"[MacFarlane] was a great fan of Carl Sagan's work from a young age and believes it is important for science education such as Sagan provided on a mass public basis to continue," Library of Congress spokeswoman Erin Allen told Mashable in an email.
Allen did not reply to our inquiry regarding how much MacFarlane contributed to the collection.
The Library of Congress first announced it had acquired Sagan's papers from MacFarlane in June 2012. Tuesday marked the official opening of the archive, which consists of 1,705 archival boxes of Sagan's works. The library describes the contents as follows:
It includes Sagan’s earliest notebooks and report cards, extensive correspondence with scientists and other major figures of the 20th century, drafts of scientific papers, books, articles, historical documents of the first 40 years of the space age and his laboratory research at Cornell University on subjects as varied as the origin of life, global warming and nuclear winter.
"Now, the information it contains will be available for the inspiration of the next generation of scientific thinkers and will represent an ongoing memorial to the great ‘science exciter,’ Carl Sagan," Librarian of Congress James Billington said in a release.
Sagan, who died at age 62 in 1996, is perhaps best known for Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, a 13-part TV series he co-wrote and narrated. The series aired in 1980 and won Emmy and Peabody awards.
Fox and the National Geographic Channel plan to air a followup to Sagan's classic series titled Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which is slated to premier March 9.
Fox lists MacFarlane and Druyan as executive producers on the project. Popular astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson will host the new series. In addition to her role as executive producer, Druyan co-wrote the new Cosmos along with astronomer Steven Soter; both worked with Sagan on the original.
The Library of Congress posted several times on Twitter during the ceremony, including this apparent paraphrasing of MacFarlane's remarks.
Papers donor @SethMacFarlane says "We took a really big hit when we lost Carl Sagan," @neiltyson is the heir apparent #LCSagan
— Library of Congress (@librarycongress) November 12, 2013
In addition to MacFarlane, Druyan, Soter and deGrasse Tyson, several other popular figures in the scientific community attended Tuesday's unveiling, including Bill Nye, "The Science Guy," and John Holdren, a top science advisor to President Barack Obama.
The new Sagan archive is not currently viewable on the Library of Congress website, but it will be eventually, according to Allen, the Library of Congress spokeswoman. She did not specify as to when the new material would be available online.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Image: NASA
BONUS: Carl Sagan Library of Congress Documents
"Carl Sagan, portrait. Photo by Eduardo Castaneda"
Image courtesy of Library of Congress
"Carl Sagan standing with hands on globes of planets. Photo by Eduardo Castaneda"
Image courtesy of Library of Congress
"List of titles that Carl Sagan planned to read during one of his semesters at the University of Chicago. Library of Congress Manuscript Division"
Image courtesy of Library of Congress
"Carl Sagan/Ann Druyan letter (page 1 of 2) to Warner Brothers’ production team, October 6, 1995 re: plans and details for science fiction drama film that became the movie 'Contact' starring Jodi Foster. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress"
Image courtesy of Library of Congress