An anonymous reader writes, “The Voyager 2 flyby of Neptune in 1989 was one of the big events that really got me into science and astronomy. My dad and I went to our local planetarium, which was live-streaming the images from NASA as they came in. Even though I don’t really work in astronomy now, I wanted a tattoo to commemorate my continued love of astronomy and one of my dearest childhood memories. My tattoo is the Voyager 2 spacecraft with Neptune and Triton.”
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Archive for the ‘Science Tattoo Emporium’ Category
Astrophilia [Tattoo]
Flower of Life [Tattoo]
Meg, a graduate student in physiology and pharmacology, writes, “It’s a starburst lilly with DNA as a stem to symbolize that everything originates from genetics!”
Leaving the Atoms [Tattoo]
Mar writes: “I’m a pharmacist, and I’m doing a Biomedicine Phd. When I began the PhD I decided to have a tattoo. When I was little I used to rest for long times apparently doing nothing. My mother always told me, ‘Leave the atoms and come to the Earth.’”
Tree of DNA [Tattoo]
A grad student who asked to remain anonymous writes, “The tree seems to be a potent symbol of life in human (at least Western) culture, and what better way to augment this symbol by putting the code for life (DNA) at its base? I got this tattoo to commemorate the beginning of my PhD in immunology.”
Before the Crash [Tattoo]
Bob Howe writes, “In 1992, at age 34, I decided to get a tattoo. I’m a speculative fiction writer. I wanted something grounded in the natural world, that symbolized the connection between inner and outer space, and that was unequivocally male without being bellicose. I wanted something that wasn’t a momentary fad, that was timeless and eternal: I chose Jupiter. Two years later, Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into the face of the planet, altering it forever.”
Goodnight Moon Shot [Tattoo]
Jennifer writes: “I’m not a scientist (exactly) but I am in the Navy, just like many of the men who visited the moon. My husband and son are space fanatics, the Goodnight Moon window is for my daughter. She loves the book.”
Only Resist [Tattoo]
Craig writes: “I’m a bioengineering undergrad and am currently interviewing for medical schools (MD/PhD programs). I got this tattoo of a resistor on my wrist, somewhat on a whim. I’ll always be a science geek at heart, however I truly desire to go into medicine in order to help people. The resistor is a sort of reminder to me to ‘resist’ any temptation of money, power, or anything else in order to do good science and to help others.”
Homage to Cajal [Tattoo]
A reader who asked to remain anonymous writes: “This is a Ramon y Cajal drawing of a human motor cortex pyramidal cell. I am a student of neuroscience and greatly admire Ramon y Cajal not only for his scientific contributions but for the artistic and beautiful quality of his images. This image reminds me of the vast and incredible power of the neocortex, and of the amazing capability of the human body.”
Quantum Celebration [Tattoo]
Paul writes: “I’m finishing up my last year as an undergraduate in Chemical Physics. After paging through your collection of science tattoos I thought it would be cool to get one myself — both celebrating (soon) getting my degree and my love of science. My favorite thing from my undergrad classes has been learning about quantum mechanics. I’m still amazed by its mystery and its particular odd logic, how different the sub-atomic world is from our ‘classical’ universe.”
Click here to go to the full Science Tattoo Emporium.
A Career In The Sea [Tattoo]
Marianne writes, “This tattoo is actually from 4 different sittings at different stages of my scientific career. Specifically, the fish and turtle reflect my first snorkeling experience (the trip was a break from studying for my GRE’s), and then the manatee came along after my SCUBA certification following a trip back to Fl to do so (hence the dive flag flipper), and then I added the seals to reflect my work with marine mammal rehabilitation, and finally the ‘jellies’ (3 local species) which reflect my Master’s degree working with ctenophores. I am currently pursuing my PhD and will add another tattoo, not of my research specifically, but of a dusky dolphin with which I had the opportunity to swim with in New Zealand where I stayed after shipping out to Antarctica for research! Life is good.”
Math’s Hidden Beauty [Tattoo]
Nicholas writes: “I found your tattoo emporium a while ago and found it so fascinating I wanted one for myself. I wanted to get a UV tattoo for the ability to conceal and the added effect with the black light, of course. I find Euler’s formula to be one of the most magnificent discoveries in mathematics and I wanted to use it in my tattoo. I came up with e^(i pi/2) because its just i. I thought it a great idea then to get an invisible tattoo as the number i.”
In Vino Veritas [Tattoo]
Nico writes: “Attached is my ’science’ tattoo: the molecule resveratrol. found in red wine, I wrote my dissertation on its potential biochemical attributes as a metastatic breast cancer preventative. Then I got out of research to learn how to make wine. That’s what I do now. I think it’s better to make wine than study it.”
