Jean-Francoise LeBec, 75, Space Scientist, Artist of Odors, Architect of the Aromadome

Jean-Francoise LeBec, a pioneering space scientist-turned-artist whose "odorama" installations of "smell boxes" provoked controversy in the art world in the early 80s, died in Red Rock Nevada on January 11th. He was 75.

His daughter, Rose, said he died of injuries sustained in a construction accident at the Red Rock, Nevada site of his partially completed "museum of smell," the Aromadome, that LeBec hoped would elevate the manipulation of odors to an artform.

As a molecular biologist in the early 70s, LeBec led the NASA team that built the "Big Nose," a vast, scoop-like instrument in the Colorado Rockies designed to capture and analyze tiny particles drifting down from space. At a Planetary Society press conference in 1975, LeBec irritated many of his NASA colleagues when he said, "the Apollo astronauts may have walked on the moon, but I have smelled the stars."

In 1978 LeBec abandoned molecular biology to pursue a career as an artist, designing his "odorama" installations that featured boxes with cloth hoods that visitors were encouraged to put their heads into to breathe in everything from the delicate scents of imaginary flowers to the powerful, musky odor of an extinct mammoth in heat.

The technology Lebec created for his installations was licensed to several Hollywood "scratch and sniff" endeavors that never rose beyond novelty status.

Although his installations drew crowds of the blind to galleries around the country, the art world remained unconvinced of the viability of odor as art and by the early nineties public interest in LeBec’s installations had largely faded.

LeBec’s final project, the Aromadome, was built with support from Las Vegas casinos but technical problems and ballooning costs delayed construction and forced LeBec to halt work several times over that past two years.

LeBec is survived by three daughters, Violet, Rose and Lily.