Adolf Schaller is a celebrated science and astronomical artist whose work is widely sought for its scientific accuracy, startling realism and stunning visualizations. During his 35+year career as a graphic and animation artist, Schaller has set a standard of excellence unmatched in the field of scientific visualization and is considered among its foremost practitioners by the scientific community.
His clients have included NASA, European Space Agency, Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute, Astronomy Magazine, Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Griffith Observatory and Carl Sagan. His honors and awards include a Primetime Emmy award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for his visual effects work on Sagan’s Cosmos series. His work also figures prominently within and on the cover of Sagan’s bestselling book, Cosmos, based on the series.
Schaller has served as Science Consultant and Technical Advisor on various TV productions and on films such as Contact, 2010, and Field of Dreams, and produced original pre-production paintings and storyboard sequences. He has designed and supervised visual effects sequences for films and TV, such as Brainstorm, Planet Earth, The Creation of the Universe, and the Broadway musical Gospel at Colonus.
Among other major projects Schaller has contributed to several Sky Shows for Chicago’s Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum. He worked as designer and supervisor of 3D art and stereo-photography for “Update on the Universe.” A feature in the show was the first astronomically complete cosmic zoom sequence from Earth to the edge of the observable Universe in full 3D stereo imagery.
First published in 1971 when he was fifteen, Schaller’s work has since appeared in a wide variety of media from magazine articles, books, posters and fine art prints to educational media and world-class planetarium shows and exhibits. He has also designed and produced artwork and visual effects for music videos, theme-park simulator rides, virtual reality programs, computer-generated simulations and 3D multi-plane animation sequences.
In addition, he illustrated and co-authored the book Extraterrestrials: A Field Guide for Earthlings, with Canadian astronomy writer Terence Dickinson, the rights to which were subsequently purchased by DreamWorks Pictures for a prospective film.
A short list of scientists who own his work and/or has worked with Adolf Schaller:
Terence Dickinson – astronomy writer
Carl Sagan – astronomer
Ted Gull – astronomer
Don Goldsmith – astronomer
David Morrison – astronomer
Steven Soter – astronomer
William K. Hartmann – astronomer
Timothy Ferris – science writer
James Oberg – NASA engineer
Steve B. Howell – astronomer