Whose brainwaves were recorded for the Voyager Golden Record?

Ann Druyan’s brainwaves were recorded for the Voyager Golden Record.

Druyan was the record’s creative director and a member of the team that selected its sounds, music, images, and greetings. During an hour-long recording session, she concentrated on subjects including Earth’s history, human civilization, the problems facing humanity, and the experience of falling in love. The recording was compressed into about one minute so it could fit on the record.

The brainwave track was part of the record’s “Sounds of Earth” material, which also includes a heartbeat, footsteps, laughter, animals, weather, machinery, and a ship’s horn. Druyan later married Carl Sagan, who chaired the committee that selected the record’s contents.

The other options are connected to space science or the Voyager project but not to this recording. Sally Ride was an astronaut, Carolyn Porco was a planetary scientist and imaging-team leader, and Linda Salzman Sagan helped with the Golden Record project. None of them supplied the brainwave recording used on the record.