Bonestell, Chesley (1888-1986)

US artist who specialized in such realistic-looking astronomical illustrations that many believe they were instrumental in persuading the US government that space exploration was possible.

Bonestell was born in San Francisco, trained as an architect, and took part in the design of the Golden Gate Bridge. He then became a Hollywood special-effects painter, working on films ranging from Citizen Kane 1941 to The War of the Worlds 1953.

Bonestell began illustrating spacescapes for magazines and science fiction books in the 1940s. From 1951 he collaborated closely with rocket engineer Wernher von Braun. The articles they published 1952-54 gripped the imagination of the US public and pressure mounted for the government to invest in space exploration.

The Conquest of Space 1949, written by German-born rocket scientist Willy Ley (1906-1969), was the first popular astronomy book to carry Bonestell's illustrations, many in colour.