You know Maurice Sendak as the author and illustrator of the children's book Where the Wild Things Are. But his first paying job as an illustrator came in 1947, when he was still in high school. Sendak had a reputation in the Brooklyn school as a talented artist, and when his physics teacher Hyman Ruchlis wrote a book explaining nuclear science, a hot topic due to the bombs that ended World War II, he asked Sendak to illustrate it. For his efforts, Sendak received a thousand-dollar advance, 1% of royalties, a title-page credit, and a passing grade in physics. He drove a hard bargain.
Atomics for the Millions explained how nuclear science works, from the basic concept of atoms to weapons to the future of nuclear energy. Sendak's illustrations broke down those concepts into metaphors that the general public of 1947 would understand. Sendak later expressed his disappointment in his early work, but the images are quite charming. See more of these images from the now-public domain book Atomics for the Millions at Physics Today. -via Ars Technica
