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References in arts and sciences
Scientists from various fields have honored Zappa by naming new discoveries after him. In 1967, paleontologist Leo P. Plas, Jr. identified an extinct
mollusc in Nevada and named it
Amaurotoma zappa with the motivation that, "The specific name,
zappa, honors Frank Zappa".
[242] In the 1980s, biologist Ed Murdy named a
genus of
gobiid fishes of New Guinea
Zappa, with a
species named
Zappa confluentus.
[243] Biologist Ferdinando Boero named a Californian
jellyfish Phialella zappai (1987), noting that he had "pleasure in naming this species after the modern music composer".
[244] Belgian biologists Bosmans and Bosselaers discovered in the early 1980s a Cameroonese spider, which they in 1994 named
Pachygnatha zappa because "the ventral side of the abdomen of the female of this species strikingly resembles the artist's legendary moustache".
[245] A gene of the bacterium
Proteus mirabilis that causes urinary tract infections was in 1995 named
zapA by three biologists from Maryland. In their scientific article, they "especially thank the late Frank Zappa for inspiration and assistance with genetic nomenclature".
[246] In the late 1990s, American paleontologists Marc Salak and Halard L. Lescinsky discovered a
metazoan fossil, and named it
Spygori zappania to honor "the late Frank Zappa ... whose mission paralleled that of the earliest paleontologists: to challenge conventional and traditional beliefs when such beliefs lacked roots in logic and reason".
[247]
Frank Zappa bust by Vaclav Cesak in
Bad Doberan
In 1994, lobbying efforts initiated by psychiatrist John Scialli led the
International Astronomical Union's
Minor Planet Center to name an
asteroid in Zappa's honor:
3834 Zappafrank.
[248] The asteroid was discovered in 1980 by Czechoslovakian astronomer
Ladislav Brozek, and the citation for its naming says that "Zappa was an eclectic, self-trained artist and composer ... Before 1989 he was regarded as a symbol of democracy and freedom by many people in Czechoslovakia".
[249]
In 1995, a bust of Zappa by sculptor Konstantinas Bogdanas was installed in the
Lithuanian capital
Vilnius. A replica was offered to the city of Baltimore in 2008, and on September 19, 2010—the twenty-fifth anniversary of Zappa's testimony to the US senate—a ceremony dedicating the replica was held. Speakers at the event included Gail Zappa and Baltimore Mayor
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
[250][251] In 2002, a bronze bust was installed in German city
Bad Doberan, since 1990 location of the
Zappanale, an annual music festival celebrating Zappa.
[252] At the initiative of musicians community
ORWOhaus, the city of Berlin named a street in the
Marzahn district "Frank-Zappa-Straße" in 2007.
[253] The same year,
Baltimore's mayor
Sheila Dixon proclaimed August 9 as the city's official "Frank Zappa Day" citing Zappa's musical accomplishments as well as his defense of the
First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
[254]
In early 1990, Zappa visited
Czechoslovakia at the request of President
Václav Havel, and was asked to serve as consultant for the government on trade, cultural matters and tourism. Havel was a lifelong fan of Zappa who had large influence in the avant-garde and underground scene in
Central Europe in the 1970s and 1980s (a
Czech rock group that was imprisoned in 1976 took its name from Zappa's 1968 song "
Plastic People").
[188] Zappa enthusiastically agreed and began meeting with corporate officials interested in investing in Czechoslovakia.
Within a few weeks, however, the US administration put pressure on the Czech government to withdraw the appointment. Havel made Zappa an unofficial
cultural attaché instead.
[189] Zappa also planned to develop an international consulting enterprise to facilitate trade between the former Eastern Bloc and Western businesses.
[190]
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