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Think astrophysicist and you’re more likely to conjure an image of Albert Einstein than one of petite blonde Eva Huber. Yet for this 26-year-old tattoo artist, “Breaking life down to a molecular level is one of the most intriguing topics—it’s the fiber that surrounds our very existence.” Make no mistake, Huber is 110 percent happy with her chosen profession, despite the muscle soreness that comes from a day’s work.

When she’s not at the shop, this Easthampton, MA, resident spends time checking her MySpace page (myspace.com/evajean) and adding to her own growing collection of tattoos. With pieces from more than 20 artists, she regrets none, not even the “piece of crap tribal flash I picked off the wall in a sketchy shop when I was 16.” Current favorites include those on her fingers and the black and gray eye on her left forearm, both courtesy of Thomas Hooper. It’s when describing the full-color eye on her right wrist (“It has energy-esque patterns emanating off of it”) and reciting the list of people she’d like to tattoo—Alkaline Trio, Andrew W.K., and theoretical physicist Edward Witten—that the connection between Huber’s tattoos and the Hawking-like side of her persona emerges.

She is hesitant to reveal what will be next, but does expect to be twice as tattooed as she is now in just five years. “My tattoos represent that I am a confident person who is completely comfortable with wearing tattoos, doing tattoos, and not trying to look like this perfect Barbie of a woman,” she says. “I am me, and being me includes not giving a fuck about how people think a woman should look.” And, it seems, being Eva also includes analyzing the theory of relativity.