Aurore Simonnet grew up in the Bordeaux region of France, where she developed her love of art (specifically space) and synchronized (now referred to as artistic) swimming, following in her oldest sister’s steps. After spending time in the United States as an exchange student in high school, she returned as a college student to pursue her art. Aurore attended Chabot College where she earned her AA in Graphic Design. She then went on to the University of California at Santa Cruz, where she designed her own course of study in scientific illustration while rekindling her love of synchronized swimming. Upon graduation she found employment with the NASA Education and Public Outreach Group at Sonoma State University CA, now known as EdEon STEM Learning, where she has worked ever since. When not in a swimming pool, Aurore’s “day job” is to convey the wonders of the Universe to the public through extraordinary illustrations that have brought her world-wide renown.
Whether it is black holes warping space and time as they collide, ushering in the era of gravitational wave astronomy (and winning the Nobel prize in Physics in 2017), black holes shooting out jets of matter, or neutron stars colliding and creating heavy chemical elements, Aurore is able to visualize and illustrate what most people might struggle to imagine. Aurore’s illustrations have appeared on the covers of Nature and Science magazines and countless newspaper and magazine articles, textbook covers and personal use products such as teeshirts and coffee mugs. She has also created scores of games, educational activities, numerous paper models of satellites, a pop up book, and a weekly webcomic that teaches space science appropriate for all audiences.
Aurore’s designs and the EdEon team’s science education resources succeed in their impact because Aurore understands how to work closely with her team in the process of iterative design: the plan, do, study, act process. Aurore ensures that any creative endeavor she takes on has enough time for each phase in the iterative design process, beginning with the brainstorming phase. After ideas have been allowed to come forth, she supports time for the team to iterate on design and function.
When not working, or swimming, Aurore can often be found contemplating Nature, especially the ocean…