“Here is a picture of my friend who is completing his physics degree this year and his awesome tattoos.”–Joshua Olson
Einstein v. Newton
About The Loom
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 seven books, the most recent of which is The Tangled Bank: An Introduction To Evolution. His website is carlzimmer.com and his address is [ blog at carlzimmer dot com ].
Recent PostsScience 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. If you want to share your own scientific ink, send it to me with some explanation.
Books by Carl Zimmer
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.--E. 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
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"A fascinating story, which Zimmer unfolds as a tale of high-stakes scientific sleuthing."--Booklist
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- DISCOVERmagazine: Living World
- DISCOVER Blogs: Bad Astronomy
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.