“Here is a picture of my friend who is completing his physics degree this year and his awesome tattoos.”–Joshua Olson
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About The Loom
"Celebrated curiosity monger"
Carl Zimmer writes about science regularly for the New York Times and magazines such as Discover, where he is a contributing editor and columnist.
He is the author of twelve books, the most recent of which is Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed. His website is carlzimmer.com and his address is blog at carlzimmer dot com .
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Recent Posts- A Planet of Viruses: Autographed Book Sale
- Animal Friendships: My cover story for Time magazine
- The Future of E-books–podcast of my interview on Wisconsin Public Radio
- Thursday, February 16: Science and social media panel in New York
- A Scientific Jonah: My profile of Joy Reidenberg in tomorrow’s New York Times
Science Tattoo Emporium
I once wondered aloud if scientists had tattoos of their science. The answer was yes, and this ever-growing collection is the evidence. I've turned them into a book about art and science called Science Ink: Tattoos of Science Obsessed.
Books
Carl Zimmer is the author of twelve books and counting.
"Beautiful. Packed with fascinating stories"-Nature
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"Whether discussing the common cold and flu, little-known viruses that attack bacteria or protect oceans, or the world’s viral future as seen through our encounters with HIV or SARS, Zimmer’s writing is lively, knowledgeable, and graced with poetic touches.”—Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Available in hardback or Kindle
“Carl Zimmer takes us behind the scenes in our own heads. He has ferreted out all the most wondrous, bizarre stories and studies and served them up in this delicious, sizzling, easy-to-digest platter of neuro-goodness.” —Mary Roach, author of Packing for Mars and Stiff
An ebook exclusive: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, carlzimmer.com
New! More Brain Cuttings:
Further Explorations of the Mind
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"The Tangled Bank is the best written and best illustrated introduction to evolution of the Darwin centennial decade, and also the most conversant with ongoing research."--Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University
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"Superb...quietly revolutionary"--Boston Globe
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"Fascinating...thrilling... Zimmer has produced a top-notch work of popular science."--Los Angeles Times
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"As thorough as it is graceful...This is as fine a book as one will find on the subject."--Scientific American
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"A book capable of changing how we see the world."--The Los Angeles Times
Reissued with a new epilogue by the author.
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"A fascinating story, which Zimmer unfolds as a tale of high-stakes scientific sleuthing."--Booklist
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Nifty Fifty
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April 8th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I think this is my favorite of the bunch. These two formulae, and the men who developed them, rocked the science world like very few others have. They don’t get any more elegant, or fundamental, than these.
April 12th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
F=ma would be funny to have across your knuckles.
June 14th, 2009 at 4:23 am
The best part is both of these equations are wrong in general. They are only correct for certain approximations. The Energy one is only correct if the particle in question has no momentum. The equation for Newtons second law is incorrect in cases of changing mass, for example any rocket or a pickup truck losing furniture on the freeway. The correct versions of both of these would be E^2=\sqrt{p^2c^2 + m^2c^4} and then F=dp/dt=v(dm/dt)+m(dv/dt). A professor at the university where I did my undergraduate degree said the one of the first ways you can tell if someone you are speaking to is a quack is when the inevitably start talking about E=mc^2. The other one is when they tell you they have a theory that you can go faster than the speed of light.
August 11th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
haha yeah..when I saw this I was wondering if this was supposed to be one of those contradictory tattoos or something because anyone finishing a physics degree would know that F=ma falls apart in The Theory of Special Relativity. In Einstein’s theory you have to equate force to the rate of change of momentum, not mass because mass varies. but hey, if thats what you were going for, then great! I love nerd tattoos! if not, then I must say shame on you.
October 28th, 2010 at 5:51 am
Joe, do you think he wants 20+ letters on every arm? F=ma is in relation to the current mass and current acceleration.
March 21st, 2011 at 1:14 am
These are my arms and yes I know they are not “correct”, but no equation in physics is “correct” in any form if you want to go down that route. I got these tattoos because these few characters embody so much about the world it’s almost unimaginable. It’s my way of giving thanks to physics for everything it has given us and displaying it in the most bold way I could think of.