SOURCE: "Bright Star among Billions," in Science, Vol. 275, No. 5300, January 31, 1997, p. 599.

In the following essay, Gould praises Sagan's contribution to the popular presentation of science.

Saul despised David for receiving ten thousand cheers to his own mere thousand. We scientists often stigmatize, for the same reason of simple jealousy, the good work done by colleagues for our common benefit. Because we live in a Philistine nation filled with Goliaths, and because science feeds at a public trough, we all give lip service to the need for clear and supportive popular presentation of our work. Why then do we downgrade the professional reputation of colleagues who can convey the power and beauty of science to the hearts and minds of a fascinated, if generally uninformed, public?

This narrow-minded error—our own Philistinism—arises in part from our general ignorance of the long and honorable tradition of popular presentation of...