Contact (novel)

Contact is the name of a novel by the astronomer and writer Carl Sagan, who was released in 1985.

The novel forms the basis of the eponymous film Contact by Robert Zemeckis.

Genesis

On the advice of a friend, Carl Sagan wrote together with his future wife, Ann Druyan in 1979 a treatment for a film about the first contact with aliens. As the basic ideas threatened to be diluted by revisions, Sagan began in 1982 to process his ideas in a novel. Contact was released in 1985 by Simon & Schuster and became a bestseller.

When the project was clear, even Sagan and Druyan were again involved, so that the resulting film ultimately comes very close to their original ideas.

Action

Even as a child curious by nature decides Eleanor Arroway pursue science careers. Through a friend and colleague she encounters SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and is fascinated by the possibility of discovering life on other planets. This enthusiasm is not always shared in the scientific community, especially the prestigious David Drumlin, Ellie takes little seriously as a scientist, is opposed to the SETI project.

Finally, Ellie's research team discovered indeed a message from aliens, the one next to the first 261 prime numbers and a returned TV recording - contains a blueprint for a machine - as it turns out later. In international cooperation - which is a diplomatic challenge - this machine is finally built twice in two different places in the world within several years.

The machine turns out as a transport device for five people. The President of the United States determined Drumlin as one of the persons who are to make the trip as a representative of humanity. Ellie Arroway is disappointed that she was not selected, but when one of the two copies of the machine stop being perpetrated, dies at the Drumlin, it puts in its place.

When the machine is activated, the five ambassadors are conveyed through a system of wormholes. Finally, they have contact with the aliens, one of which is manifested in the form of Ellie's father, whose appearance and behavior they have reconstructed from Ellie's memories. The aliens give only little information about yourself, explaining merely that they have sent the construction plans to the earth, as some information about the people could not be recovered from the television signals and thus they had to come into direct contact with the individual. The transport network that stretches across the galaxy, they have not even built, but found it. There will also be reflected in the number Pi an encrypted message that points to a higher power, and ultimately to a God.

Finally, the traveler will be sent back to Earth, where they can put forward no evidence of their experiences, however, since all recorded were erased.