Joe writes, “My tattoo is 3 lines of equations, the top is the Born Oppenheimer Approximation, the second line is the equation in the form of a 3-Dimensional Schroedinger Equation, and the solution in the form of a Schroedinger Equation. As a biochemist and molecular biophysicist I studied a lot of this stuff and I must say, Schroedinger was my favorite and well, I had to do it. The ink was done at Red Sky Studios in Tucson, AZ by artist Lisa.”
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"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 .
Recent Posts
Copyright © 2012, Kalmbach Publishing Co.
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May 24th, 2009 at 12:36 am
It’s an intriguing way of sneaking cheat notes into a proctored exam anyway. So long as nobody asks why he has to take off his shirt during bathroom breaks, he’s fine.
May 24th, 2009 at 6:34 am
Physicists dream of the day when a Theory of Everything can be reduced to tattoo that will fit on one bicep.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:14 am
[...] read more | digg story [...]
May 24th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
That is a sweet tattoo.. it’s almost boring seeing people with tigers and dragons, and while those are also cool I like seeing these.. more.. unconventional tattoos more.
May 24th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
I have seen a “a to the mole power” before.
May 24th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
It would be funny if there was a mistake…
May 24th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
If the ToE ever 1) is written, 2) is proven, 3) is small enough to fit on a human’s Back
I’ll have my first back tattoo.
May 24th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
BJM, is that on a regular person’s bicep or a physicist’s bicep?
May 24th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
popurls.com // popular today
story has entered the popular today section on popurls.com
May 24th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Tatuándose Ecuaciones de hombro a hombro
3 equaciones: 1-Aproximación de Born-Oppenheimer 2-ecuación de Schrödinger 3-Resolución de la ecuación de Schrödinger ….Vía digg
May 24th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
can you imagine this guy on the beach … every1 would be staring and talking about him … hehe …
awesome …
May 24th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Sigma-ta?
May 24th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Do humanity a favor and make sure you get mummified when you pass away. People 10,000 years from now may look at your back and marvel at what had been accomplished.
May 24th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
A simple barcode on the base of the neck would have been sufficent.
May 24th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
nice!
i like it
May 24th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
WHAT?? did he lose a bet or something…because thats stupid!
May 24th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
The problem of cheating with this is that you will be helping the student behind you lol
May 24th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
So what is the answer?
May 24th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I think there is a sign error in the second equation, in the denominator of the second term.
May 24th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Sry, but thats too Nerdy, even for a geek.
Not too sure what his gf is going to say about this
May 24th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
I too see a mistake, but it should be easy to correct…
May 24th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
[...] The Most Scientific Tattoo You’ll See Today (PIC) [...]
May 24th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Those look great..but man that’s a lot of skin estate.
May 24th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Well I am glad some of you find it interesting or cool or whatever. Either way it usually gets people talking. I got it because I like the equations and it’s in my area of work. About any mistakes, there were none on the proof but its possible that something got miffed or whatever. Honestly I am not worried about it, and likewise haven’t bothered to stare at it long enough in the mirror!
May 24th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I just thought of this, but should a mistake be there it could work in my favor. The first girl to find it is the girl I was meant to be with, assuming I want to be with any girl who could find a mistake in those equations, hah.
May 24th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Is the font Computer Modern?
May 24th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Obviously he’s a man without a brane. I sport a much cooler – and more comprehensive – full-body tattoo of string theory. Unfortunately to see the full thing you have to be able to see in 11 dimensions. All that shows up in our 4 dimensions is a tattoo of chinese symbols that my Chinese friend says questions my “orientation”. I can’t believe how lucky I was to find the tattoo guy that was an expert in string theory AND was willing to give me an 11-dimensional tattoo for only $20.
May 24th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
LOL, what a nerd. I can see Angelina Jolie with something like that! LOL
RT
http://www.real-anonymity.pro.tc
May 24th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
“Obviously he’s a man without a brane.”
classic
May 24th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
He could have saved himself a lot of ink if he had used the Einstein convention. But then there would not be those cool zig zag thingies.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
[...] but this is one for the books! Do you know what these equations represent? Find out at The Loom. Link This entry was posted on Sunday, May 24th, 2009 at 9:00 pmand is filed under Neatorama. You can [...]
May 24th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
There’s a mistake in this equation…
May 24th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
nice tattoo, i luv it
May 25th, 2009 at 12:19 am
There IS no sign in the second denominator of the 3 Dimensional Schrodinger Equation
May 25th, 2009 at 12:37 am
I am a fellow biochemist and I totally understand the passion this guy has for Schroedinger (I call him “so danger”
). I once put down the derivation of complex current (i) as in my tag line for msn and people thought it was cool.
I still have to get something like that to get a tattoo!
May 25th, 2009 at 1:03 am
Cheating at an exam? Really. Anyone that needs to remember the Schrödinger equation will remember it without cheating. That’s part of its spell
May 25th, 2009 at 1:10 am
I see an error.
May 25th, 2009 at 1:43 am
What a dummass.
If he had a modicum of taste, shouldn’t it have been the one very short equation that represents a fundamentatal building block of his fave theorem?
May 25th, 2009 at 1:54 am
anyone who has ever had a tattoo knows this is fake.
please!
May 25th, 2009 at 2:49 am
This man has never or will never be within 5 feet of a woman unless it’s his mom.
May 25th, 2009 at 2:53 am
Frucken nerd!
May 25th, 2009 at 3:09 am
Would’ve been scientifically more precise if the text read “virgin”
May 25th, 2009 at 3:22 am
your one cool dude!
May 25th, 2009 at 3:23 am
I love this…classic.
May 25th, 2009 at 3:36 am
What a freak.
May 25th, 2009 at 3:45 am
and here is mine :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vicnent/237587249/sizes/o/
(Tribute to Euler)
May 25th, 2009 at 3:48 am
Does that equal nerd or geek?
May 25th, 2009 at 3:58 am
There is a minus sign missing in the denominator of the second term of the second equation
May 25th, 2009 at 3:59 am
…without a brane… wtf
May 25th, 2009 at 4:42 am
Forgot to carry the 1 about halfway into that second line, dude
May 25th, 2009 at 7:31 am
[...] who have equations tattooed on themselves. And we’re not talking E=MC2, folks; this guy (check it out) has The Born Oppenheimer Approximation, the second line is the equation in the form of a [...]
May 25th, 2009 at 8:07 am
I’m afraid the solution should be delta cubed not delta squared…
May 25th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Ok, it is different. But for a math phobic like me, this man would be a real turn off. I would have night mares about impossible mathematical equations all night long. =O
May 25th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Tom_Mandory, it does look a bit too good to be true. In ten years, it won’t be readable anyway, just a blur. I am so glad I passed up equations for my science tattoos.
May 25th, 2009 at 10:20 am
[...] Discover] // Share and [...]
May 25th, 2009 at 10:22 am
My friend has a nice belt sander that will take that right off!
May 25th, 2009 at 11:44 am
[...] Tatouage scientifique Avant/après Pauvres/riches Photos drôles dans les montagnes russes Wall-E case mod Belles photos [...]
May 25th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
You guys who keep calling this guy a virgin and saying no woman will every be within 5 feet of him are jealous of his higher intellect. I happen to be a woman and I find this tattoo incredibly sexy. Intelligent women like intelligent men! We will NEVER be with any man whose IQ is lower than ours. This guy is the shit!
May 25th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Couldn’t you have just encompassed it all in a tattoo of “42″?
May 25th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Tatuaje Matemático
“Mi tatuaje son 3 lineas de ecuaciones, la primer es la Aproximación de Born Oppenheimer, la segunda es la ecuación en la forma 3-dimensional de Schroedinger, y la solución en la forma de Ecuación de Schroedinger. Al ser bioquímico y biofí…
May 25th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
“Crap, I needed the cheat sheet on the front!”
May 25th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Touche Fascist Nation, 42 would have been shorter to right then all that, but i think he should get the question to the answer 42
May 25th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I agree with Angel H and Joe. If Joe’s SO can’t appreciate it, then they shouldn’t be there long. And if they can spot the error, that just proves that not only are they date-able, but a definite keeper.
May 25th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
[...] Credits: blogs.discovermagazine.com [...]
May 26th, 2009 at 12:37 am
@mauiz
@Mike
In theoretical physics, a membrane, brane, or p-brane is a spatially extended mathematical concept that appears in string theory and its relatives (M-theory and brane cosmology) that exists in a static number of dimensions. The variable p refers to the number of spatial dimensions of the brane. That is, a 0-brane is a zero-dimensional pointlike particle, a 1-brane is a string, a 2-brane is a “membrane”, etc. Every p-brane sweeps out a (p+1)-dimensional world volume as it propagates through spacetime.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brane
P.S. Go read The Fabric of the Cosmos or any of the books written by Brian Greene
May 26th, 2009 at 2:15 am
[...] blogs.discovermagazine.com / image / image Tags: Chat, équation, Equation de Schrodinger, geek, Tatoo, Tatouage Category: [...]
May 26th, 2009 at 5:25 am
[...] Encontrado en DiscoverMagazine [...]
May 26th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
[...] Via Discover Magazine [...]
May 26th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Yea, I’m completely lost. But the point of a tat is to express YOURSELF, not look cool for other people (a point lost on most of my generation, sadly) – the more offbeat the better. This guy is awesome
May 26th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Nice Joe, I got a form of the Schroedinger Equation as an arm band. I’m not native american, I haven’t been to jail, I’m not Irish etc. so all the ‘traditional’ arm bands were not meant for me. But as a Ph.D. Chemist I wanted to express my brand of dorkishness. I met the equation in school and always kept it on paper in a draw, I eventually had in inked in 2003 at the age of 33. I have a deliberate mistake, I did drop the bar in h/bar as it looked ugly to me, but didn’t add the Pi below as it crowded the letters.
Nice job.
P.S. Never met anyone who didn’t think it was cool.
May 26th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
[...] Discover Share [...]
May 26th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
[...] Equation and Schroendinger Equation’s solution tattooed on this dude’s back. [Discover via Geeks Are [...]
May 26th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
[...] [vía|Discover] Related Posts:[Rumor] Estas son imágenes de la línea de producción del PlayStation 3 SlimEste será el poster de WatchmenWindows 8 llegará en 2011Grasshopper Manufacture está trabajando con Square EnixImágenes conceptuales del iPhone 4G nos hacen babear [...]
May 27th, 2009 at 3:44 am
[...] Equation and Schroendinger Equation’s solution tattooed on this dude’s back. [Discover via Geeks Are [...]
May 27th, 2009 at 4:10 am
[...] Via Taguri: matematica, stiinta, tatuaj, tech Altele, posibil asemănătoare: – O noua teorie despre Big Bang – Half Life IRL – Sa reinventam roata – Fotografie naveta Atlantis si telescopul Hubble [...]
May 27th, 2009 at 4:10 am
[...] Via Taguri: matematica, stiinta, tatuaj, tech Altele, posibil asemănătoare: – O noua teorie despre Big Bang – Half Life IRL – Sa reinventam roata – Fotografie naveta Atlantis si telescopul Hubble [...]
May 27th, 2009 at 6:36 am
I’m a physics major, as long as you don’t get too flabby or tan too much and turn your tattoo into something nasty and deformed looking, I don’t think it’s weird or unattractive or anything. I saw someone in the SPS Lounge here once with at least one of their arms completely covered in tattoos of physics equations.
May 27th, 2009 at 8:19 am
this guy should post the LaTeX code for his new ink….
May 27th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Nnnnnnnneeeeerrrrrrrrrd
!
May 27th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
that is so classy.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:02 am
When the find this guy’s mummy some 5-thousand years hence, the laughter will be uproarious. Much the same as the Flat World Society today. Silly and sad.
May 30th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
that tat says ‘virgin’
May 31st, 2009 at 2:29 pm
[...] [Via Discover] [...]
May 31st, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Angel is absolutely correct. Those who believe women will be deterred by this type of tattoo have no idea what they’re talking about. I’m a female Mensa member, and let’s just say this tattoo will be more effective in its silence than a lifetime of pickup lines. I love tattoos, and this is the best I’ve seen. I’d say Joe has just ensured he’ll find exactly the kind of woman he wants.
June 1st, 2009 at 12:29 am
This is much better than the people who think those nonsense words they had tattooed in Kanji or Hebrew letters are real words.
I have seen tattoos that were just nonsense syllables in Hebrew/Aramaic letters. I did not have the heart to tell the person she had gibberish on her neck.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:04 pm
I agree with Cargojack. I don’t know how many times I see people with Chinese or Japanese on themselves and have no idea what it actually means. There was this guy showing off his “Chinese birth symbol.” The character read as “Sheng” – which doesn’t represent the powerful Ox he was going for. It means “birth” or “birthday.” :S Oops.
I also love it when I see tattoo shops offering characters that are either upside-down or backwards haha. People don’t stand a chance if they’ve never studied the languages.
I’m proud the guy actually knew exactly what he was putting on his body.
June 2nd, 2009 at 6:19 am
GET A GIRL FRIEND YOU FREAK!!!!
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:01 am
[...] and not intentionally related, but here are some thing I think you should know about. First, this is the reason engineers shouldn’t get tattoos. And for all intents and purposes this is the [...]
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:11 pm
[...] secchione che ha deciso di decorare per sempre la sua schiena in questo modo si chiama Joe, che sul Blog Discover’s Science Tattoos, spiega: “Da biochimico e biofisico molecolare quale sono, ho studiato un bel po’ di [...]
June 4th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
[...] Discover) Tags: Geek Tattoos, Inspired, Physics Tattoos, Stories, Tattoo [...]
June 4th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
[...] http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ [...]
June 10th, 2009 at 1:38 am
A kindred spirit! These are mine: http://orardor.blogspot.com/2008/12/bloody-numbers.html
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:26 am
lame.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Excellent tattoo; partial credit: It would be an ‘outstanding’ check your math.
Second equation, third term, the denominator is cubed, not squared. Like it.
August 2nd, 2009 at 10:42 pm
[...] what a lovely article from Discover magazine. Click the link to see a true scientific [...]
August 31st, 2009 at 4:59 am
mens gucci shoes
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December 4th, 2009 at 6:04 am
DUDEEEEE!!!! U are crazy!!!!!
Hard Core mehn! If anyone is doubting your intellect just rip your shirt off and show em ( Make sure u aint got a flabby belly!!!)
December 24th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Nice tattoo but way too geeky for me!
January 1st, 2010 at 12:47 am
Man that is one uber geeky tattoo have fun explaining that to any chics you meet lol.
February 16th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Hah, thats pretty cool, can’t say I would go for something like it, but cool never the less.
February 23rd, 2010 at 4:44 am
They are so funny ,but pretty cool…
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:47 am
[...] writes: The first line is the Born Oppenheimer Approximation (a method for simplifying calculation of the [...]
September 24th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
Thank god someone said something about brane.. that was buggin me no one got it. Very very cool tat though. All the people who have something negative to say don’t know that there’s only one real person who needs to like the tattoo.. the person getting it. Everyone else can suck it.
October 12th, 2010 at 5:06 am
The first line is a full molecular hamiltonian, no BO approximation there.
July 10th, 2011 at 10:16 pm
[...] who claims tattoos are for idiots should take up their issues with Joe, a molecular biophysicist/biochemist. While there are plenty of math tattoos out there, this one is special thanks to the sheer quantity [...]
July 11th, 2011 at 10:54 am
[...] who claims tattoos are for idiots should take up their issues with Joe, a molecular biophysicist/biochemist. While there are plenty of math tattoos out there, this one is special thanks to the sheer quantity [...]
October 18th, 2011 at 10:22 pm
[...] He can always look in the mirror for reference… (Photo) [...]
January 13th, 2012 at 5:27 pm
[...] who claims tattoos are for idiots should take up their issues with Joe, a molecular biophysicist/biochemist. While there are plenty of math tattoos out there, this one is special thanks to the sheer quantity [...]
January 30th, 2012 at 11:27 am
[...] GAS / Origin: Discover] About [...]