Jon Lomberg

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 until 1996.cite web | url=http://srb.npaci.edu/cgi-bin/nsdl.cgi?uid=/2004-09-03T23:57:15Z/42A4CFF9E80A515A6ECD7A185991488D/biolomberg.html | title=Artist of the Cosmos: Jon Lomberg | work=Artist's statement paired with Planetary Society biography | publisher=San Diego Supercomputer Center's Storage Resource Broker website ] In 1998, the International Astronomical Union officially named Asteroid Lomberg in recognition of his achievements in science communication.cite web |url= http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/compsci/Lombergbio.htm |title= About the Artist |publisher= San Diego State University Computational Science Research Center ] cite web |url= http://www.calit2.net/newsroom/article.php?id=77 |title= Visualizing the Cosmos |work= Calit2 announcement for UCSD lecture |date= 26 April 2002 ]

Biography

Jon Lomberg grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.cite web |url= http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Oct/28/tr/hawaii710280313.html |title= Earth's first walk-through model of the Milky Way opens on Big Island |author= Chris Oliver |work= Honolulu Advertiser |date= 28 October 2007 ] During a visit to Toronto, Canada after college,cite web |url= http://www.friendsofmerril.org/sol20b.html#Jon%20Lomberg |title= Tribute |author= Jon Lomberg |work= SOL Rising, Number 20, January 1998 |publisher= The Friends of the Judith Merril Collection, Toronto Public Library ] 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. 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 documentariescite web |url= http://www.cbc.ca/technology/quirks-blog/2007/09/30_years_and_a_day.html |title= 30 Years and a Day |author= Bob McDonald |work= Quirks and Quarks |date= 6 September 2007 ] on topics such as NASA's Viking programcite web |url= http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/forty_years/virtual-journeys.html |title= Virtual Journeys |work= CBC Radio One Ideas (radio show) |date= 1976 ] and Halley's Cometcite web |url= http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/transcripts/h.html |title= Halley's Comet |work= CBC Radio One Ideas (radio show) |date= 1986] for the program.

In 1972, Lomberg showed some of his paintings to astronomer Carl Sagan, who then asked him to illustrate " in 1981.

The Smithsonian Institution commissioned Lomberg in the early 1990s Goldstein, J. J.; Bicay, M.; Gorchev, R.; Lomberg, J.; Blitz, L.; Neal, V. Abstract, [http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1994BAAS...26.1549./0001550.000.html 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. ] to paint "“A Portrait of the Milky Way,”" a scientifically accuratecite web |url= http://members.aol.com/dsfportree/sdate.htm |title= New View of the Galaxy (December 2, 1994) |author= David S. F. Portree |work= Scripts of the syndicated radio series " [http://stardate.org/radio/ StarDate] " produced by the McDonald Observatory |quote= Artist John Lomberg and astrophysicist Jeff Goldstein spent a year plotting the positions of nebulae and star clusters we can see in the night sky. They also drew upon the latest research about the galaxy's structure. They used radio observations to plot the broad sweep of its spiral arms, for example. Lomberg then set up a six-foot-by-eight-foot canvas in a hut on the island of Hawaii. He painted with airbrush and acrylics. At night he covered the forming galaxy to keep the geckos away… ] 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. The 6 ft by 8 ft 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,” was displayed in the National Air and Space Museumcite web |url= http://www.stellarium.com/html/smithsonian.html |title= Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, 1992 - 2002 |author= Stellarium |quote= [Image caption.] Installation of the map in 1992. Note the cutout in the light baffle wall on the right. It held a backlit Milky Way portrait by Emmy Award winning space artist Jon Lomberg. The portrait faced outward and served as a Stellarium introduction. Research by the museum's astrophysics department gave the renowned artist the basis for the most accurate portrait possible. It also gave the first evidence that our galaxy is a barred spiral. ] from 1992 through 2002 and remains part of its permanent collection of aviation and space art.

Lomberg also designed the Galaxy Garden,cite web |url= http://www.galaxygarden.net/mapping.html |title= Mapping The Milky Way in Flowers |author= |work= Paleaku Astronomy Center Galaxy Garden, detailed description with photographs and explanatory diagrams ] a three dimensional walk-through Milky Way scale model which is part of the Paleaku Peace Gardens Sanctuary in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

He co-designed the MarsDialcite web |url= http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/04/990422055433.htm |title= Martian Sundial Designed For 2001 Space Mission Is Unveiled By Bill Nye "The Science Guy" |work= Science Daily |date= 22 April 1999 ] cite web |url= http://starbulletin.com/2004/01/03/news/story6.html |title= Isle artist adds local touch to Mars craft |author= Susan Essoyan |work= Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date= 3 January 2004 ] aboard the Mars Exploration Rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" and was the project director and editor-in-chiefcite web |url= http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/messages/vom_lomberg.html |title= Visions of Mars: Then and Now |author= Jon Lomberg |work= Planetary Society ] for the "Visions of Mars" CD-ROM and mini-DVD aboard the spacecraft "Phoenix", which is scheduled to land on Mars in May 2008.

Lomberg was also on the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant planning teamscite web |url= http://www.longnow.org/press/articles/ArtFTlibrary.php |title= What do we want to say to our far-off descendants - and how can we say it? |author= Christian Tyler |work= Financial Times article on the Long Now Foundation website |date= 3 June 2000 ] cite web |url= http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/020805/archive_022198.htm |title= A curse to last 10,000 years |author= James M. Pethokoukis |work= U.S. News & World Report |date= 5 August 2002 ] cite web |url= http://plazm.com/magazine/features/archive/nuclear-time/nuclear-time |title= Nuclear Time: On Markers to Deter Inadvertent Human Intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Storage Facility |author= Julia Bryan-Wilson |work= Plazm 27 ] with Frank Drake, Ben Finney, Ward Goodenough, Louis Narens, Frederick Newmeyer, Woodruff Sullivan, and others.

Jon Lomberg is a founding member of the International Association of Astronomical Artists [http://www.iaaa.org/history.html History] of the International Association of Astronomical Artists. ] and a member of the Planetary Society advisory council. [http://www.planetary.org/about/advisory_council.html Advisory Council] of the Planetary Society. ] He designs exhibits and gives presentations for the Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Center in Hilo, Hawaii for the Mauna Kea Observatory and Gemini North.cite web |url= http://www.astroday.net/AstroTalk23.html |title= The Artist in the Observatory: Jon Lomberg |author= Institute for Astronomy Office of Science Education and Public Outreach |work= University of Hawaii at Hilo presentation co-sponsored by Gemini Observatory |date= 20 January 2006 ] He lives in Hawaii with his wife and two children.

Bibliography

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

* 1978: Carl Sagan, Frank Drake, Ann Druyan, Timothy Ferris, Jon Lomberg, Linda Salzman Sagan. "Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record." New York City: Random House. ISBN 0-39441-047-5.

* 1979: Carl Sagan, "." New York City: Random House. ISBN 0-394-50169-1.

* 1997: Donald Goldsmith, "Worlds Unnumbered: The Search For Extrasolar Planets." Herndon, Virginia: University Science Books. ISBN 0-93570-297-0.

* 1997: Donald Goldsmith, "Einsteins Greatest Blunder? The Cosmological Constant and Other Fudge Factors in the Physics of the Universe." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-67424-242-4.

* 2001: Donald Goldsmith and Tobias Owen, "The Search for Life in the Universe." Herndon, Virginia: University Science Books. ISBN 978-1-891389-16-0.

* 2004: David W. Thomson and James Bourassa, "Secrets of the Aether: Unified Force Theory, Dark Matter and Consciousness." Alma, Illinois: The Aenor Trust. ISBN 0-97242-512-8.

Awards and honors

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

* 1979: American Institute of Graphic Arts Certificate of Excellence for the cover of "."

* 1981: Primetime Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Creative Technical Crafts for the TV series "."

* 1983: "Graphic Design USA" magazine DESI Award for nuclear winter artwork in "PARADE" magazine.

* 1984: Vermont World Peace Film Festival Prize for Best Video Documentary for the videotape of the multi-media show "Nuclear Winter" with Carl Sagan.

* 1987: Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Armstrong Award for Documentary for the "Ideas" program "Halley's Comet."

* 1996: American Association for the Advancement of Science Best Children's Science Book Award for the "Life In The Universe" curriculum for grades 4-9, in the Life Science category.

* 1998: International Astronomical Union officially renamed Asteroid Lomberg, formerly asteroid 6446 1990QL.

* 2002: Astronomical Society of the Pacific Klumpke-Roberts Award.

References

External links

* [http://www.jonlomberg.com/ Official Jon Lomberg website]
* [http://www.galaxygarden.net/index.html Official website of the Galaxy Garden] at the Paleaku Astronomy Center in Captain Cook, Hawaii.
*
* [http://www.bluepoint.gen.tr/sagan/spaceart.html Space Art Gallery] with several Jon Lomberg paintings.
* Two views of " [http://kepler.nasa.gov/media/art.html#lomberg A Portrait of the Milky Way] " on the Kepler Mission website.
* Transcripts of two Robyn Williams shows with Jon Lomberg for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: :* [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ss/stories/s1505986.htm Voyager - A message from Earth] - 19 November 2005 at the Sydney Observatory :* [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/incon/stories/s1536397.htm Jon Lomberg, In Conversation] - 5 January 2006