We’re loving this explanation of how nanotubes were given an accidentally (very) NSFW name

If you enjoy maths, you’re probably very familiar with the wonderful Hannah Fry.

She has done so much to bring a love of numbers – and the importance of correctly interpreting data – to the public eye …and ear, in her BBC Radio 4 show with Adam Rutherford, The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry amongst many other broadcasts and books.

On her TikTok account, beautifully named fryrsquared – we see what she did, there – she shares entertaining snippets about maths and science in history and the world around us.

Like this tale of how nanotubes were given an accidentally NSFW shortened name. It’s a gem, trust us.

@fryrsquared

AND NO – I don't think they knew what they were doing. Need to read it for yourself? Structural and electronic properties of chiral single-wall copper nanotubes, by YingNi Duan, JianMin Zhang, and KeWei Xu (2014)

♬ Blossoming Spring – Thanh Hung

Spectacular. New insult just dropped.

Billy Butcher “Well, if it isn’t the invisible copper nanotube”.
BlackChurx

I am absolutely going to start calling people “copper nanotubes”.
Hersheymilkington

Honestly me too.
fryrsquared

Reminds me of the Computer Literacy & Information Technology certificate we did at school.
ElspethKirkman

You say “not ideal”, I say “best name ever”.
Probably BoredinPDX

I’m a fan of Proton-Enhanced Nuclear Induction Spectroscopy.
Turgid Flagellum

Tell me that’s not real.
fryrsquared

It’s real. It’s an NMR technique. I think because of the abbreviation, they renamed it to cross-polarization, the abbreviation of which has no negative connotations whatsoever.
Turgid Flagellum

I could see where this was going as soon as you said “copper”!
Reardwen

I honestly tried to reference this paper in my Thesis.
Lewis Piper

That’s even better than Uranus.
HankRoland

Their paper is publicly available next Tuesday.
ddt_one

It’s all fun and games until your thesis is rejected for inappropriate word choice.
Dc Andersen

In the British rail industry some old overhead line layout drawings have an abbreviation for Tie Wire Anchor Terminations.
J-Bone

Unfortunate? How often do we receive gifts like this?
Joshua Reeves

Alison Kiddle421 found it very uplifting.

I was having a bad day and then I saw this and now I can’t stop laughing.

Follow Hannah to put more mathematical and scientific joy in your life.

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Source Hannah Fry Image Screengrab