Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart provided a mathematical resonance that might mean something to extraterrestrials, to whom the music might conceivably be otherwise uninteresting.” Chuck Berry was also an early suggestion by Ann Druyan.”įerris recounts, “I did want to represent some major composers to show the relationship between classical music and mathematics. ‘Dark Was the Night’ by Blind Willie Johnson was a suggestion of mine at the first meeting. Some of the strongest pieces were suggested early on because they were pieces that had a tremendous meaning to someone. Golden records on voyager how to#“We would sit for hours listening to stuff and thinking about how to assemble a portrait of the earth in musical terms. It was a rather informal process,” says Ferris. “We would have listening sessions at my place in New York, at Carl's place in Ithaca, and everyone would come up with candidates. Nowadays, music and content can be delivered though a link in the cloud at the speed of light, but back in the ‘70s, it had to be physically assembled. “You had to get physical copies of the tapes and records. With Ferris, Drake, and Sagan, the team consisted of artist Jon Lomberg, artist Linda Salzman, author Ann Druyan, ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, and music producer Jimmy Iovine, an accomplished recording engineer who had worked with John Lennon.įerris explained the difficulties of acquiring the music, a challenge probably unfamiliar to music enthusiasts in the digital age. A small team, including some of Ferris’ friends and colleagues, quickly began the musical selection process. Once NASA approved the project, there were just a few months to put the record together. Since my two principal interests have always been astronomy and music, it was perfect for me, and I agreed.” “Carl and Frank had this idea to put a record on the Voyager spacecraft, and he asked if I wanted to be part of the project. “One evening, Carl was at my place in New York and we were listening to music,” Ferris recounts. Initially, the thought was to simply add a plaque on the spacecraft that said something about humans.īut the two realized that a phonograph record, with the same weight as a plaque, could carry within its grooves a lot more information. Tasked with the mission of exploring the outer solar system, the Voyager spacecraft would be wandering space forever. The idea to incorporate a phonograph record on the Voyager mission began with Carl Sagan and astronomer Frank Drake. “Well, if you're going to make a record that shows off some of the richness and diversity of the world's music I think it would be perverse not to include classical music, which is in many ways the highest realization of human music,” says Ferris in a phone interview with WFMT. Science writer, filmmaker, and Pulitzer Prize nominee Timothy Ferris was the producer of the Voyager Golden Record. A gift across the cosmic ocean from one island of civilization to another.” And on this record are a sampling of pictures, sounds, greetings, and an hour and a half of exquisite music. A phonograph record: golden, delicate, with instructions for use. Their solution? The Voyager Golden Record: a collection of images, sounds, greetings, and a diverse array of music.Īstrophysicist and Cornell University professor Carl Sagan led the Voyager Golden Record team. If given the task to assemble a collection of music that reflects humanity, what would you choose? This assignment was given to a group of astronomers, science writers, designers, and engineers. It's a reminder of what we can achieve when we are at our best - and that the future really is up to all of us.". The golden record was a gift from humanity to the cosmos. Etched on the record's gold-plated aluminum jacket is a diagram explaining where it came from and how to play it. This enchanting artifact, known as the Voyager Golden Record, may be the last vestige of our civilization after we are gone forever.Ĭurated by a visionary committee led by Carl Sagan, the golden record tells a story of our planet expressed in sounds, images, and science. Attached to each of these probes is a beautiful golden phonograph record containing a message for any extraterrestrial intelligence that might encounter it, perhaps billions of years from now. This enchanting artifact, known as the Voya "In 1977, NASA launched two spacecraft, Voyager 1 and 2, on a grand tour of the solar system and into the mysteries of interstellar space. "In 1977, NASA launched two spacecraft, Voyager 1 and 2, on a grand tour of the solar system and into the mysteries of interstellar space.
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