This has got to be the ultimate challenge in visual communication. Sum up humanity with a simple picture.
I have to say they had a fair crack at it back in the early 70’s. Dr. Carl Sagan, (an American astronomer and author) was enthusiastic about the idea of sending a message with the Pioneer spacecraft. NASA agreed to the plan and gave him three weeks to prepare the message…(now that’s a tight deadline!). Together with Dr. Frank Drake, he designed the plaque and the artwork was prepared by Sagan’s then wife Linda.
The plaques depict the male and female form, our scale in relation to the space craft, our address in the solar system a a little diagram showing the Hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen, which in fairness is the only part that lets it down.
