Glorious Dawn: Sagan, Hawking Sing (w/ Video)

November 12, 2009 By Devin Powell, ISNS

Astronomer and long time science advocate Carl Sagan once said that he was "not very good at singing songs." But on Nov. 9 in Washington D.C., his voice could be heard singing about the wonders of universe -- 13 years after his death.

"A Glorious Dawn" is a new that features Sagan and astronomer . It was played during a meeting of The Planetary Society, a nonprofit organization founded by Sagan in 1980 to advocate for and the search for extraterrestrial life.

Composer John Boswell created the video by cutting together clips from the PBS documentaries "Cosmos" and "Stephen Hawking's Universe". Boswell added music, a beat and used Auto-Tune -- a program originally designed to correct the pitch of singers -- to tweak the pitch of each astronomer's voice and create a melody.

You need Flash installed to watch this ideo

© 2009 Inside Science News Service, By Devin Powell
ISNS


   
Rate this story - 4.6 /5 (17 votes)

Rank Filter

Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

  • OBSL33t - Nov 12, 2009
    • Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
    Such a great song. I've been rocking out to this for almost a month. I'm subscribed to his youtube channel as well. He has a couple more songs just as awesome as this one.
  • antialias_physorg - Nov 13, 2009
    • Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
    Awesome songs. Actually made me cry (and I don't even remember who/what managed that last)
  • koskol - Nov 13, 2009
    • Rank: not rated yet
    I was initialy sceptical reading this... sounded like a blasphemy having Sagan and Feynman singing. But the songs are brilliant! Great work! A beautiful musical tribute to those people that inspired generations, those people that saw and understood the utter beauty of the universe and came back to share it with us!
  • Mesafina - Nov 13, 2009
    • Rank: not rated yet
    These songs are an inspiration, like the people in them were in life. Carl Sagan might have had more of an influence than anyone I can think of on inspiring many children to follow science and logic rather then superstition and ignorance.
  • jsovine - Nov 13, 2009
    • Rank: not rated yet
    @koskol: "blasphemy"

    Really? Wow.
  • koskol - Nov 13, 2009
    • Rank: not rated yet
    @jsovine

    :D sounded dogmatic? wasn't meant to be such. Just figure of speech really. Surely you can understand that.
  • powercosmic - Nov 13, 2009
    • Rank: not rated yet
    Whenever I'm having a bad day, I'll just listen to these songs and watch the videos and all will be well!

    Awesome work!
  • Dasan - Nov 15, 2009
    • Rank: not rated yet
    Excellent songs!
    Super well put together, and very inspiring.

November 12, 2009 all stories

Comments: 8

4.6 /5 (17 votes)

  • hide
  • Related Stories

  • BlackBerry Storm 2 coming soon (w/ Video)
    created Oct 20, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Video: Swine flu health tips
    created Apr 30, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Flying MAV Navigates Without GPS (w/ Video)
    created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Professor: 'Depression is like the worst disease you can get' (Video)
    created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • New robot skier takes to the slopes (w/ Video)
    created Oct 23, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0



  • hide
  • Relevant PhysicsForums posts

Other News

TED takes on 'What the world needs now'

Other Sciences / Other

created 1hour ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Let the mind-bending begin! A TED conference that attracts brilliant minds and challenges them to solve humanity's ills got underway Tuesday in the southern California city of Long Beach.


New research reveals burglars have changed their 'shopping list'

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created 1hour ago | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 2

Globalisation, and particularly cheaper electronic goods from China and the Far East, has altered behaviour among Britain's burglars according research in progress at the University of Leicester.


Study challenges bird-from-dinosaur theory of evolution - was it the other way around?

Study challenges bird-from-dinosaur theory of evolution - was it the other way around?

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created 13 hours ago | popularity 3.7 / 5 (11) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides yet more evidence that birds did not descend from ground-dwelling theropod dinosaurs, experts say, a ...


'Counterfactual' thinkers are more motivated and analytical, study suggests

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created 16 hours ago | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

(PhysOrg.com) -- "If only I had..." Almost everyone has said those four words at some time. Rather than intensifying regret, '"what if" reflection about pivotal moments in the past helps people to weave a coherent life story, ...


The Glass Cliff: Female representation in politics and business

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created 8 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Leadership positions in business have proven to be precarious for women. Female business leaders are more likely to be appointed to powerful leadership positions when an organization is in crisis or high-risk circumstances. ...