CATCH OF THE DAY: Not only is Cosima the hot one, she’s also the brainiest gal in Clone Club. So, it’s no surprise that her nautilus tattoo is about as clever and geeky as she is!

The nautilus shell is famous for its resemblance to the Fibonacci spiral, which can be created with numbers in the Fibonacci sequence.


The sequence itself is 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89... and so on. The next number is found by adding up the two previous numbers in the sequence. If you were to take the ratio of two successive numbers (say 21 and 34 for example) their ratio would be close to Phi φ (1.618034), also known as the "Golden Ratio." Now, I know what you’re thinking…

(via winslet.tumblr.com)

But hold tight, this is where it gets really cool. You’ll be dorking out quicker than you can say "fecundity."

This golden ratio goes by many names: the golden mean, the golden proportion, the golden number, the divine proportion, the cosmic code, sacred geometry, and even the fingerprint of God. All of this culminates in the theory that this golden ratio and its accompanying spirals can be found all around us, such as in the distribution of leaves on a plant, the seeds of a sunflower, the spiral of swirling galaxies in space, and even in the curve of the double helix in our DNA.


Adolf Zeising, a German mathematician and philosopher, who, in his studies, found the golden ratio frequently in nature, described this phenomenon in his writing, “Of a Universal Law."

“The golden ratio is a universal law in which is contained the ground-principle of all formative striving for beauty and completeness in the realms of both nature and art, and which permeates, as a paramount spiritual ideal, all structures, forms and proportions, whether cosmic or individual, organic or inorganic, acoustic or optical; which finds its fullest realization, however, in the human form.”

Golden ratio in the human arm

Many suggest that these divine proportions were used in art by many of the masters during the Italian Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci is believed to have used these proportions to compose many of his finest works, including The Last Supper, the Mona Lisa, and the Vitruvian Man.


A mathematical property that can be found in art, plants, and even our DNA? Now doesn’t that sound like something Cosima would totally dork out about?

Nice poster, Cosima.

 It sure looks like it.

(via orphanblack.tumblr.com)

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Written by: Rachel
Rachel is a former art student, now full-time Tumblr addict, with a soft spot for movie monsters, Renaissance art, and knit scarves. 
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