Pretty gay, but I really did like Stephan Hawking after my dad showed me the A Brief History of Time documentary when I was 7ish.
I actually used to like Sagan a lot, and I think I still do in some ways, but he became such an annoying paragon of 'enlightened atheism' after he died.
Most of my "youth" was in the 80s. Between Carl, 321 Contact, and later on Bill Nye and Beakman's World, those were my major sources of "fun" science. But Carl in particular just struck me as a cool uncle or grandfather trying to teach me stuff. Same with Mr. Wizard.
I did also look up to PeeWee, but that was more about his cool house and devices/toys than him personally. It was my deepest desire to have a bike as cool as his.
Who was your hero/idol in high school?
Fuck. I don't think had one. I was majorly messed up by high school and had lost hope in everyone. Lead to a lot of internal conflicts where I almost killed myself over it. If I was forced to pick...early high school, Tupac. Senior year, Eagle-Eye Cherry and Kevin Smith