{{short description|German painter}}
{{Infobox artist | name = Helmut Wimmer | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Helmut Karl Wimmer | birth_date = {{birth date|1925|12|08|mf=y}} | birth_place = Munich, Germany | death_date = {{death date and age|2006|03|20|1925|12|08}} | death_place = Stuart, Florida | nationality = | spouse = Francie Schwaige | known_for = Painting | training = | movement = | notable_works = Artist's Rendition of a Black Hole (1971) | patrons = | awards = | elected = | website = }}
'''Helmut Wimmer''' (1925-2006) was a painter who, as the staff artist for New York's Hayden Planetarium from 1954 to 1987, created representations of cosmic vistas which were used during the planetarium shows.<ref>{{Citation | last = Hevesi | first = Dennis | title = Helmut Wimmer, 80, Painter With Planetarium for a Canvas, Dies | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/obituaries/25wimmer.html | accessdate = 19 October 2011 | work=The New York Times | date=25 January 2007}}</ref>
Born in Munich, at the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a sculptor and architectural model maker. Taken as a prisoner of war by the Russians while serving in the German army, his talents were noticed, and he was assigned to a team tasked with the repair of the ornamental plaster works of the government buildings in Gorky.<ref>{{Citation | last = Franklin | first = K. L. | title = Helmut K. Wimmer (1925-2006) | url = http://www.mapsplanetarium.org/2010/10/helmut-k-wimmer/#more-471 | accessdate = 13 September 2015 | archive-date = 4 March 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085124/http://www.mapsplanetarium.org/2010/10/helmut-k-wimmer/#more-471 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
In addition to work used in planetarium shows, Wimmer provided illustrations for numerous astronomy books and text books, and his work frequently appeared in the American Museum's Natural History magazine. Of particular note is his 1971 illustration for ''Physics Today'', entitled ''Artist's Rendition of a Black Hole'' - a "colorful schematic concept of black hole phenomena [which] has been copied extensively, sometimes without proper credit."<ref>{{Citation|last=Franklin |first=K. L. |title=Helmut K. Wimmer (1925-2006) |url=http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/staff/former/wimmer |accessdate=13 September 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331172838/http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/staff/former/wimmer |archivedate=March 31, 2012 }}</ref>
A painting depicting the close passage of a comet by Wimmer was used as the cover art for the album ''Mysterious Traveller'', by the jazz fusion band Weather Report, released in 1974.
He also designed an educational children's board game entitled "Space Hop", which was published by Teaching Concepts in 1973. The game taught players about the Sun and its planets, moons, comets and asteroids.
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.icra.it/ICRA_Networkshops/INW10_RJR60/jan1971ptcover.htm Additional information on the 1971 black hole illustration, with image.]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wimmer, Helmut}} Category:1925 births Category:2006 deaths Category:20th-century German painters Category:20th-century German male artists Category:German male painters Category:21st-century German painters Category:21st-century German male artists Category:Planetarium shows Category:Emigrants from the Kingdom of Bavaria to the United States
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