The Cosmic Calendar

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Many years ago, in 1977, astronomer and author Carl Sagan offered us the concept of a “Cosmic Calendar” in his book The Dragons of Eden.  It’s a fun thought experiment in which you take the entire history of the universe, from the Big Bang until now, and represent it as calendar year. 

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Citations

  • Biello, David, and David Biello. “The Origin of Oxygen in Earth’s Atmosphere.” Scientific American, 19 Aug. 2009, www.scientificamerican.com/article/origin-of-oxygen-in-atmosphere.

  • “Cosmic Calendar.” Visav, visav.phys.uvic.ca/%7Ebabul/AstroCourses/P303/BB-slide.htm. Accessed 6 Jan. 2021.

  • “Galaxies, Explained.” Science, 17 Apr. 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/galaxies.

  • Kazlev, M. Alan. “Palaeos: Time: The Cosmic Calendar.” Palaeos.Com, palaeos.com/time/cosmic_calendar.html. Accessed 6 Jan. 2021.

  • Sagan, Carl. The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence the Dragons of Eden. Random House, 1989.

  • Wikipedia contributors. “Cosmic Calendar.” Wikipedia, 3 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Calendar.

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