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62 Skeptical Look At Richard C. Hoagland

The Face Behind the book 2010: Odyssey Two (his sequel to 2001: A
When I inquired of Carl Sagan as to the precise Space Odyssey), credits Hoagland:
"Face" on Mars: nature of Hoagland's role in the "creation" and The fascinating idea that there might be
"design" of the Pioneer 10 plaque, Sagan's reply life on Europa, beneath ice-covered oceans kept
A Skeptical Look at
of September 6, 1990, made clear that "Eric liquid by the same Jovian tidal forces that heat
Richard C. Hoagland Burgess and Richard Hoagland did no more than Io [Jupiter's volcanic moon], was first proposed
suggest to me that a message be put aboard by Richard C. Hoagland in the magazine Star &
Pioneer 10 and 11. Frank Drake and I, with an Sky ("The Europa Enigma," January 1980
assist from Linda Sagan [Carl's wife at the time, [accessible from the very bottom of this page]).
Continued from Page 61
who prepared the artwork], did the design, and I This quite brilliant concept has been taken
was responsible for getting it through the NASA seriously by a number of astronomers (notably
and White House approval process. . . . NASA's Institute of Space Studies, Dr. Robert
[Hoagland] did not contribute one bit of data Jastrow), and may provide one of the best
Hoagland also announced on September 17 that towards the message design." motives for the projected GALILEO Mission.
NASA was preparing a three-part "miniseries"
Frank Drake confirmed Sagan's account But late into my preparation of this
on his presentations, entitled Hoagland's Mars,
(September 27 and October 18): "Neither Eric article (in fact, some days after I first posted its
to air on PBS. He added, "I and Carl now both
Burgess nor Richard Hoagland contributed any precursor on my Web site), I came across the
have our own miniseries," as if to compare his to
ideas or even suggestions as to what should be "Europa" Web site of Ralph Greenberg, a
Sagan's award-winning series Cosmos. In a
on the Pioneer 10, and no suggestions as to any professor of mathematics at the University of
November 5, 1990, telephone conversation, I
message content. They did point out that Pioneer Washington in Seattle, who has been attempting
learned from Craig De Sagnick, a contract video
10 was going to leave the solar system and it for several years, without success, to have
production manager to NASA/Lewis, that the
would be nice to put some form of message on Hoagland clarify the record on Europa. One
original two-show project had been reduced to a it. That was as far as their involvement went. I night in July 1996, Greenberg was listening to
single, half-hour program about Hoagland's
am sure that Eric Burgess would be glad to Art Bell's wildly popular late-night Coast to
March 20 presentation, which would carry a
confirm this. . . . The idea that there should be an Coast A.M. radio program. Bell's guest was
disclaimer making clear that Hoagland's theories
engraved plaque, and the type of information Richard Hoagland, who proceeded to accuse
were his own and not NASA's (the second half-
which should be engraved, was developed NASA of preparing to steal the credit for his
hour production was deemed of insufficient
mutually by Carl and me. . . . I remember very own original ideas about Europa. Hoagland
technical quality to warrant a TV show being
clearly that we started with completely open singled out a particular NASA scientist, Cornell
made). He told me that NASA produced
minds as to what the message should be, and University's Steven Squyres, as one who had
between 13 and 26 new shows per year on a
without any prior suggestions as to possible already begun the process earlier that month
variety of space-related topics, which any message content." during a scientific meeting in England.
individual PBS station could elect to broadcast if
In a note of acknowledgements (see Greenberg knew nothing of these matters, but
it so wished.
right) at the conclusion of Sagan and Drake's was disturbed that Hoagland would make such
February 25, 1972, Science article entitled "A an accusation, in a national venue, on the basis
Dubious Claims for Due Credit
Message from Earth," Burgess and Hoagland are of a newspaper account of that meeting. (It
credited with the "initial suggestion to include turned out that Squyres had made no claim to
On July 6, 1990, Hoagland accused Omni some message aboard Pioneer 10." But as having been the idea's originator.) As Greenberg
magazine of "the height of editorial Hoagland acknowledges on page 98 of his own relates on his Web site, "During Hoagland's
irresponsibility." What prompted him to vent his book, it was actually Burgess who first said to [later] frequent guest appearances, Art Bell
outrage to the international FTP audience? In its
Hoagland, "It ought to carry a message." (Then, would often mention some recent news item
July article about a hypothetical "Mars Rover"
on the next line, Hoagland claims that he had about Europa and either he or Hoagland would
mission to Cydonia, according to Hoagland the
already thought of the idea: "That was the bring up the subject of Hoagland's 1980 article,
magazine "ascribed to Carl Sagan [my] work on
unvoiced thought, which had been nagging at always giving the impression that it was he who
. . . the pyramids and all the other things that are
me ever since I'd gazed in through [the craft's] first proposed [the idea]. Art Bell would then
there." But the article referred to the "face" as
thick quartz windows" (italics in original). usually add some sarcastic comments about the
merely a "mesa . . . named for its resemblance to At Drake's suggestion, and thanks to his scientific community not giving Hoagland his
human features," not as an artificial structure. tip in helping me locate Eric Burgess (who had due credit."
And there were no references to the rest of been a writer for the Christian Science Monitor Then, in early 1997, Greenberg
Hoagland's "work," although Sagan did refer,
at the time of the Pioneer 10 project), I happened to see an article in Science News
metaphorically, to the region's mile-high
telephoned Burgess, who told me the following mentioning that the idea of a liquid-water ocean
mountains as "beckoning pyramids."
(and subsequently mailed me a copy of the under the ice of Europa had first been proposed
Speaking of Sagan, the Pioneer 10
epilog to his 1982 book, By Jupiter: Odysseys to in 1971 by John S. Lewis. Taken somewhat
plaque and its elegant message (see right) have
a Giant, in which he recounts a virtually aback, Greenberg decided to do a little more
always to me epitomized his poetic genius. But
identical sequence of events): digging, and found that a series of additional
Hoagland told the FTP audience on July 13, I came up with the idea [that the craft scientists had also chimed in with concurring
1990, that "Carl for many years has been taking carry a message from Earth]. And I mentioned it articles throughout the 1970s. And he found at
public credit for the Pioneer plaque which, of
[at lunch that afternoon] to Hoagland [then a least three scientists who, prior to 1980, had
course, Eric Burgess and I conceived." On a
freelance writer] and Don Bane [Los Angeles speculated publicly about the possibility that life
broadcast later that year (November 16) he
Herald Examiner ]. . . . And I said that the right might have evolved in such an ocean (Robert
added that "Carl . . . was involved with Eric
man to get this onboard would be Carl Sagan. Shapiro, Gerald Feinberg, Benton Clark), as
Burgess and me in the design of [the] message."
So I went around to JPL [NASA's Jet Propulsion well as science-fiction writer Duncan Lunan.
And in the publisher's foreword to The
Laboratory] -- Hoagland was in tow with me -- In his 1980 article, Hoagland clearly
Monuments of Mars we find this passage:
and found Sagan. . . . And I said, "Hey, Carl, I've does acknowledge (on page 28) that "it was
Among Hoagland's most valued got an idea for you." All Hoagland did was [space scientists] Cassen, Peale and Reynolds
contributions to history and science is the support me and say it's a good idea. [June 2011 who arrived at the estimate [of] Jupiter's tidal
conception, along with Eric Burgess, of
Update: Jerry Pournelle has similar influence upon [Europa]. . . . Those energies
Mankind's First Interstellar Message in 1971,
recollections.] should produce . . . internal heating." Hoagland
an engraved plaque carried beyond the solar
Hoagland is also widely believed to shortly thereafter offers the following, which
system by the first man-made object to escape
have been the first to deduce the tantalizing one might incorrectly assume to be an original
from the sun's influence, Pioneer 10. Hoagland
notion of an ocean, possibly harboring life, flash of extrapolated insight:
and Burgess took the idea to Carl Sagan, who
flowing beneath the icy crust of Europa (right),
successfully executed it aboard the spacecraft
one of the moons of Jupiter. Even Arthur C.
and acknowledged their creation in the Clarke, in an acknowledgment at the end of his (Continued on Page 64)
prestigious journal Science.