Skip to content

Southern Fried Science

Over 15 years of ocean science and conservation online

  • Home
  • About SFS
  • Authors
  • Support SFS

The indelible stamp – Scientists and their tattoos

Posted on November 1, 2011December 9, 2011 By Andrew Thaler 5 Comments on The indelible stamp – Scientists and their tattoos
Popular Culture, Science

How do you declare your undying love for science? How do you immortalize your doctoral dissertation? How can you let the world know about your eternal love affair with tardigrades, Euler’s Identity, caffeine, or the voyager spacecraft? If you answered any of these with “get a tattoo!” than you’ve probably already heard about Science Ink: Tattoo’s of the Science Obsessed, by Carl Zimmer.

Over the last several years, Zimmer has been compiling scientists’ tattoos at the Science Tattoo Emporium, which now contains 255 pieces of ink. In Science Ink, Zimmer has selected the best looking,  most memorable tattoos from his online collection and published them in a beautiful book featuring both artwork and insight into each piece.

Zimmer is among the best of the “science communicators”, those who distill the essence of important concepts into comprehensible units. Each tattoo come with either a description of the story behind its origin, its meaning to the canvas, or the fundamentals of the concept it represents. The book covers an extensive range of topics, from mathematics to natural history to physics and astronomy. When I first heard about this project, I was expecting a coffee-table style book of tattoo photographs, but it is much more than that. The tattoos are simply prompts for a deeper exploration into the meaning of science to society, as well as a delightful collection of (very) short stories about individuals experience in science.

The photographs are sometimes hit or miss. Most were self submitted, so many lack the extra touch of a professional photographer. Zimmer did a good job of balancing the underwhelming images with some incredibly beautiful ones. Many of these tattoos are works of art (especially check out the KT extinction scene on page 156)…

…and that leads into my one major criticism of this collection.

Balance of the Deep - my science tattoo

Tattoos are artwork. They are often a composite of the tattoo bearer’s vision of what they want and the tattoo artist’s skill, experience, and talent. In Science Ink, there’s a python tattooed on one scientist’s arm that looks like it could be an oil painting. There are murals, mosaics, and incredibly clever and inspired compositions that could just as well be hanging in a gallery as indelibly stamped onto the skin. Yet nowhere in Science Ink are the tattoo artists credited.

Yes, tattoos are almost always commissioned works, and the copyright belongs to the bearer of the artwork, not the creator, but given the recent discussion led by Glendon Mellow (who’s ink you can see on page 123) at Symbiartic on properly crediting artists for their work, it seems like a needless oversight to fail to credit the tattoo artists for their contribution to Science Ink. My science tattoo is on page 173 and it was created by William Wood of Dogstar Tattoos in Durham, NC. He did such a good job that I went back to him for my second piece.

Overall, this is a great resource and a fun discussion piece that now has a permanent home on my coffee table. Crediting the artists should be a painless as adding an appendix to future printings.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon

Related

Tags: Carl Zimmer Science Ink science tattoo emporium tattoos

Post navigation

❮ Previous Post: Shark Science Monday: the Known Unknowns of Shark Conservation
Next Post: Support “Shored Up”, a new documentary about beach renourishment ❯

5 thoughts on “The indelible stamp – Scientists and their tattoos”

  1. George Scott says:
    November 2, 2011 at 12:19 pm

    A partial list of credits of the tattoo artists represented in Science Ink will be posted to Carl Zimmer’s personal website in a few days. This list of credits will be printed in the book when it goes back to press, which appears to be very soon.

    George Scott
    Scott & Nix, Inc.

  2. Southern Fried Scientist says:
    November 2, 2011 at 2:08 pm

    Wonderful news. Thanks!

    It really is a fantastic book, I feel kind of bad for focusing so much on that one oversight.

  3. George Scott says:
    November 9, 2011 at 9:26 am

    Here’s a link to CZ’s website with the partial list of credits (not everyone sent them in):

    http://www.carlzimmer.com/books/scienceink/artists.html

    George Scott
    Scott & Nix

  4. Southern Fried Scientist says:
    November 9, 2011 at 9:49 am

    wonderful, thanks!

  5. Glendon Mellow says:
    November 9, 2011 at 9:56 am

    That’s weird, on that list I see the credit for designing Scicurious’s tattoo, but not the credit for designing my own tattoo.

    I know I had a really hard time tracking down my tattoo artist since the shop closed. There’s lots of lateral movement in that industry, and the informality of first names makes it hard to keep tabs on particular tattoo artists in my experience.

Comments are closed.

Recent Popular Posts

Deep-sea Mining: It’s science fiction, until it isn’t.Deep-sea Mining: It’s science fiction, until it isn’t.May 14, 2025Andrew Thaler
Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine is a fake documentaryShark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine is a fake documentaryAugust 10, 2014Michelle Jewell
Here's what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservationHere's what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservationApril 10, 2024David Shiffman
Our favorite sea monsters – Ningen (#4)Our favorite sea monsters – Ningen (#4)September 7, 2010Andrew Thaler
My "Follow ocean science and conservation experts on Bluesky and Instagram" assignmentMy "Follow ocean science and conservation experts on Bluesky and Instagram" assignmentNovember 19, 2024David Shiffman
Alberta, Canada is the proud owner of the largest man-made pyramid on the planetAlberta, Canada is the proud owner of the largest man-made pyramid on the planetOctober 16, 2012Andrew Thaler
A quick and dirty guide to making custom feeds on BlueskyA quick and dirty guide to making custom feeds on BlueskyFebruary 7, 2024Andrew Thaler
What can the funniest shark memes on the internetz teach us about ocean science and conservation?What can the funniest shark memes on the internetz teach us about ocean science and conservation?November 8, 2013David Shiffman
I turned my woodshop into a personal solar farm.I turned my woodshop into a personal solar farm.June 21, 2021Andrew Thaler
What is a Sand Shark?What is a Sand Shark?November 12, 2017Chuck Bangley
Subscribe to our RSS Feed for updates whenever new articles are published.

We recommend Feedly for RSS management. It's like Google Reader, except it still exists.

Southern Fried Science

  • Home
  • About SFS
  • Authors
  • Support SFS


If you enjoy Southern Fried Science, consider contributing to our Patreon campaign.

Copyright © 2025 Southern Fried Science.

Theme: Oceanly Premium by ScriptsTown