Carolyn Bartlett Gast (April 30, 1929[1] – c. September 2015[2]) was an American scientific illustrator. She is most known for her illustration is of the loriciferanphylumpliciloricus enigmatus.
Her most well known and reproduced illustration is of the loriciferanphylumpliciloricus enigmatus,[6] which was discovered in 1983 by the Danish biologist Reinhardt Møbjerg Kristensen in the microscopic ecosystem between grains of sand.[4] She was also credited for providing illustrations in publications such as the academic journal Crustaceana.[7][8]
Gast was founder of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators in 1968,[4] and contributed two chapters to The Guild Handbook of Scientific Illustration.[9] She invented an ultra mini-vacuum cleaner that could be held in one hand for taking excess carbon dust from the illustration board.[2]
In 1984, the National Museum of Natural History held an exhibition of 80 of Gast's works, including illustrations of fossils, fish, insects and invertebrates.[2] She retired a year later, in 1985.
Outside of her scientific work, Gast was also interested in medieval illuminated manuscripts and created a three-dimensional alphabet in this style.[5]
