Jim Ottaviani

Jim Ottaviani is an American writer who is the author of several comic books about the history of science. His best-known work, ''Two-Fisted Science: Stories About Scientists'', features biographical stories about Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Niels Bohr, and several stories about physicist Richard Feynman. He is also a librarian and has worked as a nuclear engineer.

Biography

Ottaviani has a background in science, earning a B.S. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1986, followed by a master's degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan 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, and in 1990 he enrolled in the Library and Information Science 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.Applewhite, Ashton. (2002).
"The Hero Checks Her Oscilloscope"
. 'IEEE Spectrum' 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's book ''The Making of the Atomic Bomb''. In discussing the book with comic book artist Steve Lieber, the two decided to write and illustrate a famous meeting between physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg 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.

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. ''Wire Mothers'' is tells the story of psychologist Harry Harlow's work in the 1950s on importance of love and affection among primates, in contravention of then-prevailing theories put forward by the Behaviorist 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_Richard_Feynman_

Richard_Phillips_Feynman_(;_May_11,_1918_–_February_15,_1988)_was_an_American_theoretical_physicist,_known_for_his_work_in_the_path_integral_formulation_of_quantum_mechanics,_the_theory_of_quantum_electrodynamics,_the_physics_of_the_superflu_...