Who would want to punch Einstein?

March 18, 2010 12:53 PM

Please identify the man on the left with the moustache. The guy on the right is clearly meant to be Einstein. Who's the guy punching him?

My gut feeling says it's Nietzsche, but the context of the flyer seems to indicate that it should be a scientist.
Any ideas?

posted by robotot to Science & Nature (35 answers total)

Tesla.
posted by rafter at 12:55 PM on March 18, 2010

Friedrich Nietzsche.
posted by yoyo_nyc at 12:55 PM on March 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

Tesla? Never.
posted by yoyo_nyc at 12:56 PM on March 18, 2010

Nietzsche - the walrus/handlebar combo mustache.
posted by iconomy at 12:59 PM on March 18, 2010

Yeah looks like Nietzsche to me.
WALRUS/HANDLEBAR COMBO UNLOCKED
posted by randomination at 1:00 PM on March 18, 2010

The Gay Science might be that boxing mit that Herr Nietzsche is mashin' into Einstein's mug.
posted by Aleatoire at 1:02 PM on March 18, 2010

Sure looks like Nietzsche to me.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:03 PM on March 18, 2010

Ask the probably creator from Apfel Zet.
posted by oxit at 1:06 PM on March 18, 2010

Best answer: Looks like Max Planck to me.
posted by mattbucher at 1:08 PM on March 18, 2010

Err why would Nietzsche punch Einstein? Why would Nietzsche be involved in a SCIENCE SLAM anyway? Seems odd.
posted by xmutex at 1:09 PM on March 18, 2010

Rutherford.
posted by scruss at 1:10 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

(Also: the German word 'Wissenschaft', usually translated as 'science', encompasses the humanities as well as the hard sciences. Metaphysics and theoretical physics are driving at the same question, though making use of different equipment and technologies.)
posted by Aleatoire at 1:10 PM on March 18, 2010

My initial thought was either Walther Ritz or Niels Bohr.
Bohr didn't wear a moustache though, and Ritz didn't look a great deal like that cartoon.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:13 PM on March 18, 2010

Seconding Planck. The two had a fairly contentious history.
posted by Aquaman at 1:13 PM on March 18, 2010

Best answer: Planck makes a lot more sense (to me) than Nietzsche. You know, considering he's a really famous German physicist and all.
posted by muddgirl at 1:14 PM on March 18, 2010

Best answer: Another vote for Max Planck, though the Nietzsche resemblance is undeniable.
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:22 PM on March 18, 2010

Planck makes sense apart from having been extremely bald for most of his adult life.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:22 PM on March 18, 2010

Translation of the Science Slam website.

So my guess is Humboldt.
posted by lholladay at 1:23 PM on March 18, 2010

Best answer: A younger Einstein, sent from the past to stop himself.
posted by battleshipkropotkin at 1:24 PM on March 18, 2010 [9 favorites]

By rights it should be Bohr, but it isn't. If I had to pick someone from the Solvay conference photo, I'd guess Langevin.
posted by zamboni at 1:32 PM on March 18, 2010

Looks a little like Trotsky to me, but I have no idea why he would be punching Einstein.
posted by alms at 1:38 PM on March 18, 2010

Best answer: And then who's the lady in the back holding the rounds' sign ;-)
Finally someone unearths the secret life of Marie Curie!
posted by gijsvs at 1:38 PM on March 18, 2010

You could just email them

[e-mail]
posted by IndigoJones at 1:48 PM on March 18, 2010

I would like to put in a vote for Ernest
Rutherford.
posted by I_pity_the_fool at 1:57 PM on March 18, 2010

Albert Michelson of the Michelson–Morley experiment?
posted by tss at 1:58 PM on March 18, 2010

Max Planck seems most likely to me, apart from the baldness. The picture also resembles H.G. Wells, though I'm not sure a science fiction author is really science-y enough to box Einstein. Maybe more science-y than Nietzsche, though. ;-)
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 2:03 PM on March 18, 2010

Best answer: Look at this web page from the event. There's a lot of humanities work represented here.

It actually looks like a really cool event. Talks on "The changes in work identity in subjects: Western civilization in the process of globalization" and "How to fold molecules: Mathematics without Equations". Anyway, my guess would be that Aleatoire is correct. They're using the English "science" in place of the German "Wissenschaft", but they're keeping the German meaning. The same meaning that the word had for Nietzsche when he used it.

It's Nietzsche.
posted by mr_roboto at 2:19 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I don't think its anyone specific. Just a Victorian looking gentleman punching Einstein. Why do they both have to be scientists?
posted by vacapinta at 2:26 PM on March 18, 2010

Differing but serious opinion: That is Don Kaiser, character from 80s Nintendo game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. Possibly reworked to look like Neitzsche.
posted by kensington314 at 2:36 PM on March 18, 2010

Best answer: nthing Planck
posted by candasartan at 2:47 PM on March 18, 2010

My first thought was also Tesla, because he would totally punch Enstein. Just because he's craaazy.
But I guess it does look more like Nietzsche.
posted by exceptinsects at 3:00 PM on March 18, 2010

A youthful Albert Schweitzer?
I have no idea as to a motive.
posted by HE Amb. T. S. L. DuVal at 3:03 PM on March 18, 2010

I thought it was Mark Twain, but that probably doesn't make much sense given the context.
posted by gyusan at 3:53 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Check out the first GIS hit for "Max Planck". Dead Ringer.
posted by Aquaman at 4:14 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Do I have to do everything myself?

A quick email got me this reply:

Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche vs. Einstein = Geisteswissenschaft vs.
Naturwissenschaft. ;)
posted by IndigoJones at 7:20 AM on March 20, 2010 [1 favorite]