Jon Lomberg

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Jon Lomberg (born 1948) is an American space artist and science journalist. He was Carl Sagan's principal artistic collaborator for more than twenty years on many projects from 1972 through 1996.[1] In 1998, the International Astronomical Union officially named Asteroid Lomberg in recognition of his achievements in science communication.[2][3]

Biography

Jon Lomberg grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[4] During a visit to Toronto, Ontario, after college, he was invited by science fiction author Judith Merril to display his artwork at a conference she organised for the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.[5] Lomberg moved to Toronto later that year and, after assisting Merril in a radio documentary for the CBC Radio One program Ideas, went on to create many documentaries on topics such as NASA's Viking program and Halley's Comet for the program.[6][7][8]

In 1972, Lomberg showed some of his paintings to astronomer Carl Sagan,[1] who then asked him to illustrate The Cosmic Connection. This was the beginning of their quarter century of collaboration on many projects, including the Cosmos series (for which Lomberg created the talent pool[9] and as chief artist[10][11] won a Primetime Emmy Award); the Cosmos book; Broca's Brain;[2][3] NASA's interstellar Voyager Golden Record;[10][11][12] the original cover art for Sagan's novel Contact;[13] and the opening sequence from Earth through the Solar System and its galaxy and beyond for the Contact film.[10][11] At Sagan's request,[1] Lomberg designed the original sailing ship logo for the Planetary Society in 1981.[14]

Lomberg's Milky Way portrait as background for Kepler Mission diagram.

The Smithsonian Institution commissioned Lomberg in the early 1990s to paint "A Portrait of the Milky Way", a scientifically accurate artistic representation of the Milky Way galaxy as seen by a hypothetical observer from a vantage point 10 degrees above the galactic plane and 60,000 light years from the galactic center.[15][16] The 6 ft (1.8 m) by 8 ft (2.4 m) painting, which was described in a peer reviewed academic paper in 1994 as "the best representation of our galaxy to date" and "a first map like those of explorers long ago",[15] was displayed in the National Air and Space Museum from 1992 through 2002 and remains part of its permanent collection of aviation and space art.[17] Lomberg also designed the Galaxy Garden, a three-dimensional walk-through Milky Way scale model which is part of the Paleaku Peace Gardens Sanctuary in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.[4][18]

Lomberg co-designed the MarsDial[19][20] aboard the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity and was the project director and editor-in-chief[21] for the Visions of Mars CD-ROM and mini-DVD aboard the spacecraft Phoenix, which landed on Mars in May 2008. He was also on the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant planning teams with Frank Drake, Ben Finney, Ward Goodenough, Louis Narens, Frederick Newmeyer, Woodruff Sullivan and others.[22][23][24]

Jon Lomberg is a founding member of the International Association of Astronomical Artists,[25] a member of the Planetary Society advisory council,[26] and designs exhibits and gives presentations for the Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Center in Hilo, Hawaii for the Mauna Kea Observatory and Gemini North.[4][19][27] He lives in Hawaii with his wife and two children.

Bibliography

The books Jon Lomberg has co-authored and/or illustrated include:

Awards and honors

The awards and honors which have been bestowed upon Jon Lomberg include:

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Photo captions: [Right] Polaroid made in 1979 while working on the first model for Cosmos. Left to right: Don Davis, Jon Lomberg, Rick Sternbach. [Below] Left to right: Adolf Schaller, Don Davis, John Allison, Jon Lomberg, Brown. Many of the original negatives of the visual effects are in the boxes along the wall. (Don Davis Career Overview includes his photograph of Lomberg on the set of Cosmos.)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Description of first edition first printing of Contact by Carl Sagan. London: Century Hutchinson, 1986. ISBN 0-7126-9503-6.
  14. ↑ Jon Lomberg's Original Sailing Ship Logo for the Planetary Society.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Goldstein, J. J.; Bicay, M.; Gorchev, R.; Lomberg, J.; Blitz, L.; Neal, V. Abstract, A Portrait of the Milky Way: The Jon Lomberg Painting. Art and Science Working Together. American Astronomical Society, DPS Meeting #26, Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 26, p. 1550. December 1994.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ History of the International Association of Astronomical Artists.
  26. ↑ Advisory Council of the Planetary Society.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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