Jim Ottaviani is an American writer who is the author of several

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

s about the

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...

. His best-known work, ''Two-Fisted Science: Stories About Scientists'', features biographical stories about

Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (, ; ; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and old quantum theory, quantum theory, for which he received the No ...

, and several stories about physicist

Richard Feynman Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of t ...

. He is also a

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

and has worked as a

nuclear engineer Nuclear engineering is the engineering discipline concerned with designing and applying systems that utilize the energy released by nuclear processes. The most prominent application of nuclear engineering is the generation of electricity. Worldwide ...

Biography

Ottaviani has a background in science, earning a B.S. at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

in 1986, followed by a master's degree in nuclear engineering from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in 1987. He worked for several years retrofitting and fixing nuclear power plants. Intrigued by the research component of his job, Ottaviani began taking library science courses at

Drexel University Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

, and in 1990 he enrolled in the

Library and Information Science Library and information science (LIS)Library and Information Sciences is the name used in the Dewey Decimal Classification for class 20 from the 18th edition (1971) to the 22nd edition (2003). are two interconnected disciplines that deal with inf ...

program at the University of Michigan. He earned his M.S. in information and library studies from Michigan in 1992. He spent several years working as a reference librarian at Michigan's Media Union Library. He now works at the University of Michigan Library as coordinator of Deep Blue, the university's

institutional repository An institutional repository (IR) is an archive for collecting, preserving, and disseminating digital copies of the intellectual output of an institution, particularly a research institution. Academics also utilize their IRs for archiving published ...

.Applewhite, Ashton. (2002).
"The Hero Checks Her Oscilloscope"
. '

IEEE Spectrum ''IEEE Spectrum'' is a magazine edited and published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The first issue of ''IEEE Spectrum'' was published in January 1964 as a successor to ''Electrical Engineering''. In 2010, ''IEEE Spe ...

' 39(2):66-69.Peacock, S. (2003). Jim Ottaviani. In ''Contemporary Authors'' (Vol. 202, pp. 310-311). Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company. Ottaviani's interest in writing science-related comics was inspired by

Richard Rhodes Richard Lee Rhodes (born July 4, 1937) is an American historian, journalist, and author of both fiction and nonfiction, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' The Making of the Atomic Bomb'' (1986), and most recently, ''Energy: A Human History ...

's book ''The Making of the Atomic Bomb''. In discussing the book with comic book artist

Steve Lieber Steve Lieber (born May 19, 1967) is an American comic book illustrator known for his work on books such as ''Detective Comics'' and ''Hawkman'', and the critically acclaimed miniseries ''Whiteout (Oni Press), Whiteout'', which was adapted into a W ...

, the two decided to write and illustrate a famous meeting between physicists Niels Bohr and

Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg (; ; 5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist, one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics and a principal scientist in the German nuclear program during World War II. He pub ...

during World War II. That project expanded to include other stories from the history of science to become the graphic novel ''Two-Fisted Science'', including stories written by Ottaviani and illustrated by a variety of artists.Figuracion, Neil
"A Look Inside the Lab - A Genre Bender Interview with Jim Ottaviani"
nterview/nowiki>. 'Broken Frontier', 2005. Since the publication of ''Two-Fisted Science'', Ottaviani has gone on to write several other comic books about scientists, including ''Dignifying Science'' (about women scientists), ''Fallout'' (about the creation of the atomic bomb), ''Suspended in Language'' (about physicist Niels Bohr) and '' Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards'' (about nineteenth century paleontologists). These works are all self-published by Ottaviani's own company, G. T. Labs, which he started in 1996. The company's name is an homage to General Techtronics Labs, the fictional company where comic book character Peter Parker was bitten by the radioactive spider that led to his becoming

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

. Two of Ottaviani's most recent works ''Levitation'' and ''Wire Mothers'' (published July 2007) are the beginning of a planned series on "the science of the unscientific." ''Levitation'' the physical and psychological aspects of

stage magic A stage illusion is a large-scale magic trick. As the name implies, stage illusions are distinct from other types of magic in that they are performed a considerable distance away from the audience, usually on a stage, in order to maintain the illu ...

. ''Wire Mothers'' is tells the story of psychologist

Harry Harlow Harry Frederick Harlow (October 31, 1905 – December 6, 1981) was an American psychologist best known for his maternal-separation, dependency needs, and social isolation experiments on rhesus monkeys, which manifested the importance of caregivi ...

's work in the 1950s on importance of love and affection among

primates Primates is an order of mammals, which is further divided into the strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and lorisids; and the haplorhines, which include tarsiers and simians ( monkeys and apes). Primates arose 74–63 ...

, in contravention of then-prevailing theories put forward by the

Behaviorist Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understand the behavior of humans and other animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex elicited by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that indivi ...

school of thought.Spurgeon, Tom.
A Short Interview With Jim Ottaviani, Janine Johnston and Dylan Meconis
"
The Comics Reporter.'' May 6, 2007. In addition to his self-published work, Ottaviani has worked on two short comic books about orangutan
s, one of which was published by the Orangutan Foundation International. He also has two forthcoming comics in the works to be published by First Second Books, one on physicist

and another on three primatologists: Primatology">primatologists: Jane Goodall">Primatology">primatologists: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas">Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey">Jane Goodall">Primatology">primatologists: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas. On August 31, 2011, Ottaviani appeared on the Science Channel's ''Dark Matters: Twisted But True''. On November 15, 2013, First Second announced that it would publish Ottaviani's upcoming biography of Stephen Hawking with illustrations by Leland Myrick. In June 2014,

Tor.com ''Reactor'', formerly ''Tor.com'', is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on specul ...

released Ottaviani and Leland Purvis'

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer ...

biography, ''The Imitation Game'', for free online. An expanded, print version of the book appeared in 2016.

Awards

Ottaviani's 2001 graphic novel ''Fallout: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and the Political Science of the Atomic Bomb'' was nominated for the 2002

Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a ...

for Outstanding Graphic Novel or Collection. ''Dignifying Science: Stories about Women Scientists'' was nominated for a 1999

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

and for the 2000 Lulu Award. The 2003 ''Quantum entanglement, spooky action at a distance, teleportation, and you'' was nominated for the 2004

for Outstanding Minicomic. Ottaviani was also awarded a 1997 Xeric Foundation grant for ''Two-Fisted Science''.

Bibliography

* ''Safecracker'', (artist: Bernie Mireault) General Tektronics Labs, 1997, excerpted from ''Two-Fisted Science.'' * ''Two-Fisted Science: Stories About Scientists'', (various artists) General Tektronics Labs, 1997. . ** Second edition, G. T. Labs, 2001. . * ''Wild person in the woods'' (artist: Anne Timmons). Orangutan Foundation International, 1998. * ''"Talking" orangutans in Borneo'' (by Nancy Briggs and Jim Ottaviani; illustrated by Anne Timmons), Orangutan Foundation International, 2000. * ''Fallout: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and the Political Science of the Atomic Bomb'', (various artists) G. T. Labs, 2001. . * ''Dignifying Science: stories about women scientists'', (various artists) Second edition, G. T. Labs, 2003. . * ''Quantum Entanglement, Spooky Action at a Distance, Teleportation, and You : a.k.a the Official G.T. Labs Guide to Teleportation via Quantum Entanglement and Spooky Action at a Distance (Including a Brief but Helpful Section on Why, Perhaps, You Should Not Try This at Home)'', (artist:

Roger Langridge Roger Langridge (born 14 February 1967) is a New Zealand comics writer, artist and letterer, currently living in Britain. Biography Langridge originally came to public prominence most notably with the '' Judge Dredd Megazine'' series ''The St ...

) G. T. Labs, 2003. * ''Suspended In Language: Niels Bohr's Life, Discoveries, And The Century He Shaped'', (artist: Leland Purvis) G.T. Labs, 2004. . * '' Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards: A Tale of Edward Drinker Cope, Othniel Charles Marsh, and the Gilded Age of Paleontology'' (artist: Big Time Attic), G. T. Labs, 2005. . * ''Levitation: Physics and Psychology in the Service of Deception'' (artist: Janine Johnston), G.T. Labs, 2007: * ''Wire Mothers: Harry Harlow and the Science of Love'' (artist: Dylan Meconis), G.T. Labs, 2007: * ''T-Minus: The Race to the Moon'' (artists:

Zander Cannon Alexander Cannon (born November 1, 1972) is an American cartoonist, known for his work on books such as '' Top 10'', '' Smax'' and '' Kaijumax''. Career Cannon's first professional comics work was '' The Chainsaw Vigilante'', a spin-off from '' ...

& Kevin Cannon), Aladdin, 2009: * ''Feynman'' (artist: Leland Myrick), First Second, 2011: * ''Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas'', illustrated by Maris Wicks, First Second, 2013, *
The Imitation Game
', illustrated by Leland Purvis,

, 2014. * ''The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded'' (artist: Leland Purvis), Harry N. Abrams, 2016, *''Hawking'' (artist: Leland Myrick), First Second, 2019, *''

Naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

'' (by Edward O. Wilson; adapted by Jim Ottaviani and C.M. Butzer; artist: C.M. Butzer), Island Press, 2020 *''Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier'' (artist: Maris Wicks), First Second, 2020, ISBN 9781626728776 *''Einstein'' (artist: Jerel Dye), First Second, 2022, ISBN 9781626728769

Footnotes

References

Cowboys, Dinosaurs, Heisenberg and Bohr: Jim Ottaviani
��an interview by Carol Fox in the 'Sequential Tart' web zine.
A Short Interview with Jim Ottaviani
��in ''The Comics Reporter'', June 12, 2005; focuses on the business aspects of self-publishing and marketing niche comics, and on ''Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards''
Holy Evolution, Darwin! Comics Take On Science
by Neda Ulaby on NPR's Morning Edition. Includes interviews with Jim Ottaviani and biologist Jay Hosler. Aired Feb. 14, 2005.

External links

G T Labs website
��Jim Ottaviani's publishing company
Video interview with Jim Ottaviani
��Ottaviani talks about non-fiction comics with Jim and Mary Russell at the 2006 Snap! Comics Arts Festival
Several reviews of Ottaviani's works
at ComicsWorthReading.com

Review of Ottaviani's book Feynman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ottaviani, Jim American comics writers American writers of Italian descent American librarians University of Illinois alumni University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni University of Michigan staff Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American historians of science