Eugen Semitjov (22 May 1923 - 12 June 1987) was a Swedish journalist, writer and artist of Russian descent, born in Sweden.

Background

Semitjov started drawing in 1942 during his military service in Sweden. He was an expert on

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

, especially Soviet ones, and worked as a translator from Russian during

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful Human spaceflight, crewed sp ...

's visit to Sweden. He also often worked as an illustrator for ''

Aftonbladet (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish language, Swedish daily tabloid newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lar ...

'', especially when the subject was related to space technology. He covered the Apollo space programme as a journalist in Florida. As a Russian speaker, he obtained rare interviews with people involved in the Soviet space programme. Semitjov was awarded the

Stora Journalistpriset Stora Journalistpriset ("The Swedish Grand Prize for Journalism") is an annual Swedish award, founded in 1966 by Bonnier AB, given to "recognize achievement in journalism". The prize money is SEK 100,000 and is awarded in four categories: * Sc ...

in Sweden in 1972 for his work as a journalist. His non-fiction books were about the actress Greta Garbo, science, speculative science such as possible future space colonies and spaceships, with illustrations by well-known space artists such as Fred Gambino and David A. Hardy. He also wrote a small number of novels for young people. At a time when the belief that aliens had visited Earth was widespread, he published a book on the subject, deliberately giving it a title and cover to attract the 'true believers', while the majority of the book's content was devoted to debunking a number of well-known UFO cases. As well as writing books, he was the author of the science fiction comic ''

Allan Kämpe ''Allan Kämpe'' was a Swedish science fiction comic, created by Eugen Semitjov in December 1942. Setting It all begins when Allan and his wife Eva Kämpe are flying around near the North Pole. They experience a possible fuel leak and crash in th ...

'', first published in December 1942. At first glance the stories appear to be a straight copy of ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' ...

'', but the comic has more in common with

Sidney Jordan Sid Jordan (August 12, 1889 – September 30, 1970) was an American film actor. Biography Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1889, Jordan was introduced to acting through his close friend Tom Mix, when both men were serving as the "Night Marsh ...

's ' Jeff Hawke'. He was a leading member of the Swedish Space Movement Association when it was founded in 1984 to promote interest in space travel in Sweden. In 1991, the association changed its name to the Swedish Space Society and then gradually went dormant during the first half of the 1990s, only to be revived in 2012. After Semitjov's death in 1987, the Swedish space movement established a prize in his memory, the Eugen Semitjov Prize. In may 2025 a feature length documentary about Eugen Semitjov was released.

External links

official homepage
* https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33257921/reference/

References

1923 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Swedish illustrators Swedish comics writers Swedish comics artists Swedish-language writers Swedish science fiction writers Swedish science fiction artists Swedish people of Russian descent 20th-century Swedish journalists Writers from Stockholm {{Sweden-artist-stub