On December 20^th, 1996 the world lost one of its greatest minds. Over a decade later Carl Sagan remains, in many minds, the voice of astronomy. His greatest contribution to our understanding of the universe did not come from his scientific discoveries, but from his skills as a communicator.

Carl Sagan was a teacher. I remember watching Cosmos as a child and hanging on every word. He had the ability to explain a complex universe in a way that I, even as a child, could grasp. This ability made him rare among scientists, who are often unable to communicate ideas without the use of jargon or complicated comparisons.

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