Puns are probably an ancient development [0] and there are a lot of famous punny people historically from Shakespeare to Abraham Lincoln -- I wonder if the modern scientific world is more or less hospitable to punning than the rest of society?

From "Preface to Shakespeare" by Samuel Johnson in 1765 (here "quibble" means the same thing as "pun"):

"A quibble is to Shakespeare, what luminous vapours are to the traveller; he follows it at all adventures, it is sure to lead him out of his way, and sure to engulf him in the mire. It has some malignant power over his mind, and its fascinations are irresistible. Whatever be the dignity or profundity of his disquisition, whether he be enlarging knowledge or exalting affection, whether he be amusing attention with incidents, or enchaining it in suspense, let but a quibble spring up before him, and he leaves his work unfinished. A quibble is the golden apple for which he will always turn aside from his career, or stoop from his elevation. A quibble poor and barren as it is, gave him such delight, that he was content to purchase it, by the sacrifice of reason, propriety and truth." [1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pun#History_and_global_usage [1] https://www.sapili.org/livros/en/gu005429.pdf

More here too: https://scite.ai/search/citations?page=1&q=%22pardon%20the%2...