Mom's Pioneer & Voyager Interviews

Last week, I played host to not one but two film crews so they could interview my mother, Linda Salzman.

On Thursday there was the upcoming BBC show, The Beauty of Diagrams, where internationally acclaimed mathematician Marcus du Sautoy interviewed Mom about her work on the Pioneer Plaque.  Directed by Michael Waterhouse, this is a documentary series about scientific discovery, told via an exploration of significant drawings and diagrams such as Isaac Newton's Prism Diagram and Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.

Then on Friday Swiss director Franz Josef Holzer interviewed Mom about the Voyager Golden Record for his film c'est une fille, "a cinematographic letter to extraterrestrials," that will "follow the concrete example of a human being: four-year-old Zora, from her conception to the first years of her life."

Mom did a wonderful job.  She's traditionally been shy about giving interviews, but she was made comfortable by how easy it was to talk with Marcus and Franz.  Some thoughtful questions stirred up a lot of memories for her, including memories of the early 70's and my childhood, which from a personal perspective were very cool to hear.

Comments

[Alexander Zaitsev]

>Mom did a wonderful job.

Yes, of course!

I added the Category:Interstellar messages

at her Wiki web page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Salzman_Sagan

[Account Deleted]

During preparation of the 1-st Theremin Concert to Aliens,
http://www.faces-from-earth.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=35&Itemid=55&lang=en
I familiarized with musical section of Voyager Golden Record, and detected there very small portion of Russian music. Iosif Shklovsky wrote that this occurred because of some funny conflict in the Soviet Composer Union. Please let me know where I can read about it in detail ?

[Nick Sagan]

Thank you for the Wiki add, Mr. Zaitsev! Though I'm not personally familiar with the conflict in the Soviet Composer Union, I do know the Voyager team had trouble getting all the songs they wanted. For example, The Beatles "Here Comes The Sun" was on the list and while all four Beatles agreed, the record company wouldn't go for it. As for where to read about these kinds of conflict, you might try the book "Murmurs of Earth" which is out of print these days, but you might be able to find a used copy somewhere.

[Sarita Cooke]

Good to hear that your mum's come out of the shadows. She did some great things back in the 70's, as of course did your dad. Used to see you often both at Cornell and then Los Angeles. So great that you've found your place in the universe my Nicholas still struggling a bit. You guys used to 'play' together! I still have a copy of Murmurs of Earth given to me by your mum. Keep it up, the Science channel sounds very exciting well done. Sarita ex (Eisenberger)

[Patricie Fexova]

Dear Nick,
I would like to send you some pictures of my art show where I had your mother as a guest of inspiration. Could you please provide me with some e-mail address where to send photos? - they're just a few.
Thanks a lot, best wishes
Patricie