Rudaux, Lucien
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Artist, Author.
(1874-1947) French astronomer and popular-science author and illustrator whose Sur les autres mondes ["On Other Worlds"] (1937) contains many examples of space art, imagining – in terms of current scientific knowledge – the landscapes of the Moon and other planets of our solar system. His depiction of the Moon's surface as consisting of rolling landscapes with rounded mountains and hills (Rudaux even explained his reasoning behind this) was criticized by Chesley Bonestell but proved closely similar to the lunar landscapes appearing in Apollo images. Rudaux was also successful – where Bonestell was not – in showing how the shadow of Saturn's rings on the planet itself (see Outer Planets) would appear. In France, the Lucien Rudaux Memorial Award for astronomical art has been presented since 2000; a crater on Mars has been named for Rudaux, and likewise the Asteroid 3574 Rudaux. [DRL/RM]
Lucien Rudaux
born Caudebec-lès-Elbeuf, France: 16 October 1874
died 1947
works (highly selected)
- Sur les autres mondes ["On Other Worlds"] (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1937) [binding unknown/]
links
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