http://www.planetary.org/html/society/tributes/socie...

From: Aharon Hauptman 12/29/96
I cannot express the deep sorrow and the feeling of loss that I felt when I heard the sad news about Prof. Sagan.

In the late 70s and early 80s I edited the Israeli magazine ''Fantasia 2000,'' the only magazine in the country devoted to Science Fiction, speculative science and the future. I liked to quote from Sagan's wonderful popular science books. His descriptions of the mysteries of the Universe and other worlds were more exciting and imaginative than many works of science fiction. I also liked the respect that he showed to the literature of science fiction (for example, in his remarkable book ''Broca's Brain'').

I had the rare opportunity to personally meet Dr. Sagan during his short visit to Israel in the mid-80s. He talked about the dangers of nuclear war, and called it ''the legacy of Adolf Hitler.'' He expected the state of Israel and the Jewish people, being the main victims of Hitler's crimes against humanity, to lead the struggle against that terrible legacy. Sagan studied the Universe, but his main concerns were the inhabitants of our planet -- as he beautifully demonstrated in the last (and most moving) chapter of ''Cosmos.''

The Hebrew expression for somebody's passing away is ''he went to his world.'' Sagan had many wonderful worlds to go -- and his spirit and imagination will pave our way to these (billions of billions) worlds.

Dr. Aharon Hauptman