
Harvard's tenure snub helped launch Sagan's Cornell legacy
Harvard denied Carl Sagan tenure in the late 1960s, reportedly over concerns about his public writing; Cornell hired him with tenure in 1968 and later named him the David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences, turning him into one of the era's most productive science educators. Sagan published more than 600 papers, challenging the notion that public outreach harms rigorous research, while Harvard's decision is often cited as a missed bet that Cornell capitalized on before he spent decades advancing planetary science and education.













