Comments on: Science baby...

Question: Science baby...

jennyjenny — Wed, 11 May 2005 19:01:48 -0800

Science/physics geeks (and I mean geek in the most affectionate possible way) -- I need a hand. Two extremely sciencey friends of mine are having a baby, and I am looking for something to embroider on a little outfit for it.

One parent is a glaciologist/astronomy fan/physics whiz, and the other is a fan of all things sciencey and mathy. I will be embroidering a bunch of little pictures (rocketship, atoms, etc), and I need some text to go in the middle.

Ideas that are lovely, but have been rejected for one reason or another are "Back off man, I'm a tiny scientist," "Rocket scientist," and "What part of [embroider maxwell's equations here] don't you understand?"

So, science people -- what would be just incredibly hilarious to see written on a baby's shirt?

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Wed, 11 May 2005 19:30:07 -0800

Not quite what you're thinking, but a great combination of astronomy, math, and embroidery would be the first page of the Dumas message, possibly for the back of the outfit rather than the front, as it's not very colourful :)

It's a fairly famous (and obscure at the same time) example of a universal languge, transmitted into space, designed so that an alien civilisation could make sense of it.

What that means is that it also makes a really neat puzzle for the rest of us to decypher. And more to the point, it looks interesting, a geek conversation starter :)

The subseqent pages get tougher and tougher to read, as they build on more complex universal constants, but the first page is pretty acessible to all - though it may take a while.

By: true

true — Wed, 11 May 2005 19:38:22 -0800

For images, how about the voyager plaque? (Direct image link) If it's good enough for communicating with aliens, it's good enough for their kid!

By: cytherea

cytherea — Wed, 11 May 2005 19:51:50 -0800

I'm a fan of einstein's equation,

but these colorful illustrations from a Penrose lecture would be great.

By: fatllama

fatllama — Wed, 11 May 2005 19:53:29 -0800

The Gallium square from the periodic table?
cause babies say Ga Ga...?

By: Quietgal

Quietgal — Wed, 11 May 2005 20:00:05 -0800

Maxwell's Demon

By: carmen

carmen — Wed, 11 May 2005 20:22:33 -0800

I've always liked The integral of e to the x is equal to f of the quantity u to the n, but I don't think that would be appropriate for a baby. The site might be useful, though :)

(for non mathies: the equation in mathematical symbols looks like Sex = fun)

By: RichardP

RichardP — Wed, 11 May 2005 20:25:25 -0800

Perhaps cellular automata from Conway's Game of Life?

By: cerebus19

cerebus19 — Wed, 11 May 2005 20:32:36 -0800

How about "Carbon-based biological construct?"

By: fatllama

fatllama — Wed, 11 May 2005 20:36:34 -0800

Ooh. *votes for RichardP*

By: RikiTikiTavi

RikiTikiTavi — Wed, 11 May 2005 22:55:40 -0800

I have discovered a truly remarkable proof which this shirt is too small to contain.

By: blm

blm — Wed, 11 May 2005 23:19:02 -0800

Maxwell's Equations alone or a Feynman Diagram of some sort would be nice, not incredibly difficult, and not too detailed to be illegible on a baby-sized outfit. Don't know if they reach the level of hilarious though...

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Thu, 12 May 2005 00:06:06 -0800

"Not a baby. Time traveler caught in a Time storm. Ask me about it in 2246 AD"

By: Turtle

Turtle — Thu, 12 May 2005 04:05:58 -0800

e^iπ=-1

Not funny. But so cuuute on a baby.

By: plinth

plinth — Thu, 12 May 2005 06:27:31 -0800

Although their site is not showing images (grr), Dookie Wear offers an outfit with the slogan "Evil Genius for a Better Tomorrow."

By: redfoxtail

redfoxtail — Thu, 12 May 2005 06:36:34 -0800

I have discovered a truly remarkable proof which this shirt is too small to contain.

I love this very much.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Thu, 12 May 2005 09:06:20 -0800

Do you know the baby's name? Perhaps you could spell it out with symbols for chemical elements, e.g., Ni C Ho La S. Do a full square for each element, with atomic number and weight.

Unfortunately, the majority of names can't be spelled out with element symbols. There's a website somewhere where you can easily check whether a word can be spelled from element symbols, but I can't seem to find it. If you can't, I third the "truly remarkable proof" suggestion.

By: Aknaton

Aknaton — Thu, 12 May 2005 13:24:41 -0800

I'm told that I had overalls with a Fano plane stitched on them. It's got 7 points, 7 lines, two points determine a line (counting the circular one), two lines always intersect in a point (no parallel lines).

By: armacy

armacy — Thu, 12 May 2005 14:08:01 -0800

DNA model?

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Thu, 12 May 2005 17:02:56 -0800

Here is a Periodic table name spelling website as suggested by DevilsAdvocate.