Names and faces

LITTLE ROCK — The Library of Congress announced Wednesday that, thanks to Seth Mac-Farlane, it has the papers of Carl Sagan, who spoke to mass audiences about the mysteries of the universe and the origins of life. While MacFarlane never owned the late scientist’s papers, he covered the undisclosed costs of donating them to the library. “All I did was write a check, but it’s something that was, to me, worth every penny,” MacFarlane said from Los Angeles. “He’s a man whose life’s work should be accessible to everybody.” MacFarlane - creator of Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show - met Sagan’s widow and collaborator, Ann Druyan, a few years ago at an event that brought together screenwriters and directors with scientists. They agreed to collaborate on a follow-up to Cosmos, Sagan’s acclaimed 1980 miniseries, with MacFarlane as producer. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson will host the series, which is set to begin production this fall. MacFarlane said he watched Cosmos as a child and devoured all of Sagan’s books. “He played an essential role - some would say the only role at the time - in bridging the gap between the academic community and the general public,” MacFarlane said. A planetary astronomer and passionate advocate for science, Sagan contributed to a variety of NASA projects and conducted research on the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. He died in 1996 at age 62. The papers - contained in more than 800 filing-cabinet drawers - include correspondence with other scientists, drafts of Sagan’s academic articles and screenplay drafts for the movie Contact, which was based on Sagan’s novel.

The London Fire Brigade said Rihanna was among 300 people evacuated from a hotel because of an earlymorning fire in an elevator shaft. The Barbadian singer, 24, posted on Twitter news of the fire early Wednesday to her 21 million followers, posting a picture of a fire engine and the words: “Roamin da streets since 6am! Fyah in da telly.” The fire brigade said the alarm was raised at 6:22 a.m. London time and 10 firefightersdealt with the blaze on the seventh floor of the luxury Corinthia Hotel. There were no reports of injuries.