A Sagan is a humorous unit of measurement equal to at least 4 billion. The unit is derived from the phrase billions and billions (of stars), frequently attributed to the American astronomer Carl Sagan. Assuming one uses the American English definition for billion, the minimum lower bound of a number conforming to the constraint of billions and billions must be two billion plus two billion, or four billion. There are nearly 100 Sagan (400,000,000,000) stars in the Milky Way galaxy. It is important to note, however, that even though many believe Sagan used the phrase billions and billions in reference to the number of stars in the galaxy, Sagan himself claims never to have used the phrase, instead opting for the simpler phrase billions of stars. In fact, it was actually Johnny Carson who popularized the phrase through his occasional impersonation of Sagan throughout his career. Sagan, however, seems to have had a sense of humor about the myth, as he titled his final book Billions and Billions.
See also
References
- Carl Sagan, Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium, Random House, 1997.
