This is how the Emporium was born. Last summer I was at a pool party where a friend, Bob Datta, was bobbing around in the water with his kids. Datta is a post-doc at Columbia, where he studies genes in Drosophila flies. I noticed that Bob had a tattoo of DNA on his shoulder. At first I thought it was a generic snippet of the molecule, but then Bob told me that it actually represents, in the genetic code, his wife’s initials: EEE. Geek love in its noblest form.
Bob’s tatoo reminded me that I have seen other scientists festooned with their science. There was the mycologist whose arms were covered with a black mesh, which he explained to me was subterranean network of threads produced by the death cap mushroom. And then there was the developmental biologist whose arm is swathed in the image of the fish he studies. (He declined my request for a photo of the tattoo until he gets tenure.)
So I wondered–had I bumped into the tip of a vast hidden iceberg, or do I just happen to know the few scientists with tattoos of their science? I put out a call, and the answer was an emphatic yes. For months now, I’ve gotten dozens upon dozens of examples, and an astonishing number of visitors who want to see them. After trying out a few different formats, I’ve now made the Emporium their home.
If anyone wants to send me a jpg, I’ll post it. If you’re worried about tenure, just let me know how the tattoo represents the object of your study. The more personal the link, the better (i.e., not a generic tattoo of pi).
P.S. Bob later added a technical clarification: “I knew someone in this crowd would ask about the 12 bases but three codons thing! So, 3 codons don’t give you two turns (wanted to approximate real DNA dimensions), so I needed at least four codons, all of which in this case are E (the single letter code for glutamate). E translates into GAG or GAA (I went with GAG GAA GAG GAA for variety), and used the colors green for G and amber for A. The complementary bases were coded C=Cyan and T=Tomato Red (ok, a bit of a stretch). So, you can see from the left – following one strand – Green Amber Green Green Amber Amber, etc.
My wife’s first name is Eliza, and is known affectionately as Li, so I’m thinking seriously of getting a second tattoo (the first was her engagement present to me in exchange for the ring) of a Bohr model of a lithium atom. Helps too that we have two kids (so 1 Li + 1 Theo + 1 Jasper = 3). ”
August 27th, 2008 at 9:14 am
[...] a nice essay in Natural History about my science tattoo gallery. Expect plenty more new examples in weeks to come. And if you haven’t sent in yours yet, [...]
October 24th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Why perpetuate the mythical “picture” of the Bohr model (it only worked for hydrogen anyway)? Go ahead a get an electron density cloud representation, say 2s1, or for more excitement, 2P1. Even better, a blackbody curve at 312 K that says “Li is hot.”
July 29th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
I think this is just awesome. I had no idea (well, I never really thought about it) that others tattooed themselves in the name of science. As a grad student who studied Crotalus horridus, the timber or canebrake rattlesnake, I was inspired to have one tattooed on my back. I asked the tattoo artist to hand draw one for me, putting in as much detail and color as he could. I’ve never regretted the decision and think it’s fantastic that others do the same!
January 18th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
[...] once wondered aloud if scientists had tattoos of their science. The answer was yes, and this ever-growing collection is the evidence…” – Science Tattoo [...]
November 5th, 2010 at 3:32 am
[...] Magazine è una rivista online che si occupa di scienza. Da circa un paio d’anni ha un’interessante rubrica che si chiama Science Tatoo [...]
November 4th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
I’m so excited-I’m planning to tatoo the life cycle of a frog on my inner arm. I ordered “Science Ink” from Amazon. Until this morning, when I herd Carl interviewed on KQED, I wasn’t sure how to articulate my desire. My imagination is sparked + I’m inspired to come up with more imagry representing evolution for my tatoo files.
November 4th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
[...] science writer Carl Zimmer has been collecting pictures of scientist’s tattoos on his blog for years and the Science Tattoo Emporium has been growing steadily. Now he has turned [...]
December 16th, 2011 at 2:30 pm
[...] It all started when Carl Zimmer saw a friend’s tattoo of a DNA molecule and realized he had bumped into the tip of a vast hidden iceberg. [...]
January 14th, 2012 at 6:56 pm
When I get my PhD in a few months I intend to celebrate by getting the feynman diagram (most likely just the LO one) of the process I study tattooed. The question is where …