In which New York City borough was Carl Sagan born?

Carl Sagan was born in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. He was born on November 9, 1934, in the Bensonhurst neighborhood, making Brooklyn the correct borough rather than Manhattan, Queens, or the Bronx.

Sagan grew up in a modest family during the Great Depression. His father, Samuel Sagan, was a Ukrainian-born garment worker, while his mother, Rachel Molly Gruber, was a New Yorker. Sagan later attended school in Bensonhurst and developed an early fascination with astronomy, science fiction, and the possibilities of space exploration.

His Brooklyn childhood remained part of his public story. In Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, he returned to a Brooklyn classroom while discussing humanity’s changing understanding of the stars. He later became a professor at Cornell University, where he directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies and helped popularize astronomy through books, television, and work on planetary missions. A common mix-up is to answer New York City itself, which identifies the city but not the more specific borough requested.