Karl O’Dwyer has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). He says:
I first learned about this esteemed club and its existence from a colleague after he suggested I attempt to join it. I just hope my hair is worthy of such an honour.
Karl O’Dwyer, LFHCfS
Graduate student, computer science
Hamilton Institute
National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Maynooth, Ireland
Steven Pinker, psychology professor extraordinaire and charter member of the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS), gave an interview to Colleen Walsh of the Harvard Gazette. Here is the concluding section of the interview. The accompanying photo is by Stephanie Mitchell of the Harvard News Office:
Q: No Steven Pinker interview would be complete without a question about your hair. I recently saw a picture of you from the 1970s, and your style appears unchanged. Why haven’t you gone for a shorter look?
A: First, there’s immaturity. Any boy growing up in the ’60s fought a constant battle with his father about getting a haircut. Now no one can force me to get my hair cut, and I’m still reveling in the freedom. Also, I had a colleague at MIT, the computer scientist Pat Winston, who had a famous annual speech on how to lecture, and one of his tips was that every professor should have an affectation, something to amuse students with. Or journalists, comedians, and wise guys. I am the charter member of an organization called The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists. The MIT newspaper once ran a feature on all the famous big-haired people I had been compared to, including Simon Rattle, Robert Plant, Spinoza, and Bruno, the guy who played the piano on the TV show “Fame.” When I was on The Colbert Report, talking about fear and security, he pulled out an electromagnetic wand and scanned my hair for concealed weapons. So it does have its purposes.
Will Bennett has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). He says:
Since my first introduction to linguistics in 2003, in a course using Steve Pinker’s The Language Instinct as prescribed text, I have (despite occasional lapses) striven to reach Pinkerian standards of excellence both in linguistic research, and in exalting, cascading curls. My research interests are mostly on the sound-related side of the field: how phonetics, phonology and morphology (and sometimes syntax) interact. My work also focuses on under-represented/minority languages (particularly African languages).
Will Bennett, LFHCfS
Department of English Language and Linguistics
Rhodes University
Grahamstown, South Africa
Bill Tivol has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). He says:
This should qualify me for the flowing hair club, especially if I get bonus points for having this hair after chemotherapy. After getting a razor-cut about two years ago, I let my hair grow out while I looked for a barber more suitable to my needs. I was waiting for a friend, who is a hairdresser, to come for a visit, but this had been postponed several times, so my hair became more luxuriant and flowing.
Bill Tivol, Ph.D., LFHCfS
Scientific Engineering Associate
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Berkeley, California, USA
Dan Graur has joined the Luxuriant Former Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). He says:
Thirty years ago my brain started growing rapidly, thus pushing the hair roots outward. I am currently much wiser than I was as a doctoral student. Interestingly, all my male Ph.D. students also show signs of brain growth.
Dan Graur, Ph.D., LFHCfS
John and Rebecca Moores Professor
Department of Biology & Biochemistry
University of Houston
Houston, Texas, USA
The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists™ (LFHCfS) and its siblngs — the Luxuriant Former Hair Club for Scientists™ (LFHCfS), and the Luxuriant Facial Hair Club for Scientists™ (LFHCfS) — now have, collectively, 506 members: 317 male, 189 female.
This data may be of interest to someone, somewhere, some time. Maybe. If you know a scientist who would enjoy being a member, and who has the requisite qualifications, please encourage that delightful person to join the LFHCfS or the LFHCfS or the LFHCfS.
Here is a recent photo of Steven Pinker, the LFHCfS’s charter member:
Elisabeth Guggenberger and Jakob Steixner have joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). They say:
E.G. is an astroseismologist at MPG in Göttingen, and J.S. a syntactician in Vienna. We have searched the Earth in vain for a language that has 400 words for “hair”. We have now joined forces to extend their quest to outer space.
Elisabeth Guggenberger, LFHCfS
Research fellow
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
Göttingen, Germany
Jakob Steixner, LFHCfS
Linguist
Department of German Studies
University of Vienna
Vienna, Austria
David Liptrot has joined the Luxuriant Facial Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). He says:
I’m just finishing my PhD in Organometallic Chemistry at the University of Bath. After much urging from my colleagues, I have finally decided to humbly apply for acceptance amongst my hirsute scientific peers. Working in an organometallics lab with many things that like to spontaneously burst into flame, I remain amazed at my beard’s persistence, and have taken to shaving a firebreak into the sides of my head for safety.
I hope this is sufficient — I’m entering the Great British Beard Championships in 2 weeks time, and would hope I would be able to be accepted in time to fly the flag for the LFHCfS.
David Liptrot, LFHCfS
Graduate student, Organometallic Chemistry
University of Bath
Bath, UK
Christopher A. Beattie has joined the Luxuriant Facial Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) and the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). He says:
I am a mathematician working in areas related to computational linear algebra and dynamical systems and I respectfully request consideration for admission to The Luxuriant Facial Hair Club for Scientists. I confess that I am clean shaven (on good days) however, it is on the basis of my eyebrows that I petition for membership. I am confident that I would qualify also for The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists, yet it seems not so much my scalp hair as my eyebrows that have proven capable of sparking interest and conversation (e.g., “Can you actually see through that?” etc.). The causal chain may appear somewhat oblique, yet I am convinced that my eyebrows have aided in disseminating my research and thus have kept it fresh and relevant. On this basis, I request admission to this elite group of hairy scientists. .
Christopher A. Beattie , LFHCfS
Professor, Department of Mathematics
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg,Virginia, USA
Brian May, a member of the the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS), is helping to revive and revivify the Victorian-era delight in stereoscopic photography. He and colleagues are bringing new life to a once-defunct organization, the London Stereoscopic Company. Here is an example of stereo cards, which were and are at the heart of the delight:
Dr. May (who is an astrophysicist and a musician), explains briefly, in this video:
BONUS: Some of Dr. May’s earlier work, on a different subject:
Nicholas Galitzki has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). He says:
I am a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Throughout my journey in sub-millimeter experimental astrophysics, my fiery locks have been behind me, propelling me from one scientific discovery to the next. They we’re there keeping me warm when we launched our telescope, BLASTPol, from the ice sheets of Antarctica and they will be there when I go again in 2016. (Here is a recent paper I co-authored: “The Next Generation BLAST Experiment“.) The picture shows my follicles in their full flamboyant glory being reflected off of our former primary mirror. To accompany my flowing hair I have grown a full beard to reflect the rugged experimental side of my work which takes me to the field with all manner of large manly tools and equipment. I look forward to my hair and me joining this most prestigious of scientific clubs.
Nicholas Galitzki, LFHCfS [Click on the image. below, to see an enlarged version.]
Graduate student, Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists has a new member gallery with details on all the new members inducted during the year 2014.
The 2014 Membership Gallery covers all 3 of the (conjoined triplet) hair clubs: The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists, The Luxuriant Former Hair Club for Scientists, and the Luxuriant Facial Hair Club for Scientists.
Much, or at least some, additional hair club news from 2014 — such as Brian May’s work to revive stereoscopic photography, and the Danish magazine article about the hair club, and even the ratio of male to female club members — is available in the LFHCfS category of the Improbable Blog.
Find LFHCfS members Jensen, Martin, Beck, and Graur are among the new members whose virtual presence and hair grace the 2014 membership gallery
COMING ANNOUNCEMENT: In randomly chosen years, the LFHCfS chooses a Woman and Man of the Year. This year — 2014 — is one of those years. A few days from now, we will announce the the 2014 LFHCfS Man and Woman of the Year. Please prepare your emotions.
Find past members, and how the club began, on the LFHCfS mainpage.
Corbin Covault has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). He says:
I, Corbin Covault, am an experimental physicist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. I study the highest energy cosmic rays arriving to Earth from outer space, and wonder where they come from. I categorically deny all rumors that I can speak fluent Klingon.
Corbin Covault, LFHCfS [Click on the image. below, to see an enlarged version.]
Professor and Associate Chair
Physics Department
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland Ohio, USA
Jimmy has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). He says:
I, Jimmy, am an astrophysics graduate student at Texas A&M studying galaxy formation. I obtained my long luxurious hair through many months of carefully avoiding the barber shop. The lovely pink hue is the result of a fortunate accident involving a telescope, lasers, and pink hair dye. This accident also resulted in me misplacing my last name.
Jimmy, LFHCfS [Click on the image. below, to see an enlarged version.]
Graduate student
Astrophysics
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas, USA
The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) proudly announces its Woman and Man Of The Year for 2015. The two terrifically-tressed scientists are, respectively, an American researcher who studies microbes that live in paper wasp bodies and nests, and a British researcher who plumbs the mysteries of critical illnesses.
Here is thrilling detail about each of them.
Dr. Anne A. Madden, LFHCfS. (photo: Alonso Nichols/Tufts University). To see an enlarged version, click on the image.
Dr. Madden is a microbial ecologist who specializes in microorganisms associated with wasps. She is a Sloan Foundation Microbiology of the Built Environment Postdoctoral Research Fellow, at North Carolina State University and Colorado University, having received her Ph.D from Tufts University in Massachusetts. She also works on identifying wild yeasts with novel flavor profiles for brewing beer.
Dr. Madden’s publications include: “Social wasps facilitate microbial dispersal and plant disease: Polistine wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Polistinae) and grape berry rots“; and also “Sex-related differences in alkaloid chemical defenses of the dendrobatid frog Oophaga pumilio from Cayo Nancy, Bocas del Toro, Panama“.
Upon receiving the LFHCfS Woman-of-the-Year news, Dr. Madden said:
As my hair is a natural dark red brown, it is a testament to modern science, and particularly chemistry, that it is now this bright, blond color. Yay applied science! It’s an honor to receive an award that highlights how delightfully absurd and accepting our community can be. Science is a place where you can revel freely in doing serious work, all the while dressing however you please. This is what science looks like: science looks like everyone.
Dr. Alex Dyson, LFHCfS. (To see an enlarged version, click on the image.)
Dr. Dyson is a Clinical Physiologist at University College London, studying the mechanisms underlying critical illness states (such as ischaemia/reperfusion injury). He is currently working to develop a drug that will hopefully prevent chronic heart failure following acute myocardial infarction (heart attack). The drug is “pretty funky” and works by decreasing metabolism, akin to hibernation or suspended animation.
You can hear Dr. Dyson discussing his work in a Clinical Science Podcast, embedded below.
Dr. Dyson’s publications include: “Oral 1721-1: A novel dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH-1) inhibitor improves survival, hemodynamics and organ function in rodent sepsis“. and also “Inflammation biomarkers and delirium in critically ill patients“;
Samuel M. Flaxman has joined both the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) and the Luxuriant Facial Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). He says:
Dr. Flaxman studies speciation theory, with particular attention to the genomic patterns left by processes at work during the formation of two species from one. He is currently building evolutionary population simulations in order to develop quantitative genomic predictions from null and alternative hypotheses. He holds the title of “Best Mullet, 2013,” awarded for his entry as “The Wolverine” in the 2013 Mountain Sun Mullet and Chops Contest (2/28/13). His recent publications include “Theoretical models of the influence of genomic architecture on the dynamics of speciation” and “Genetic hitchhiking and the dynamic buildup of genomic divergence during speciation with gene flow“.
Samuel M. Flaxman, Ph.D, LFHCfS [Click on the image. below, to see an enlarged version.]
Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Colorado Boulder
Boulder, Colorado, USA
Amelie Stuart has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Social Scientists (LFHCfSS). She says:
I am currently writing my PhD thesis on global justice and Kantian ethics. I’ve been teaching, and working as a scientist for the past six years.
Amelie Stuart, MA, LFHCfSS
Research Assistant
Institut für Philosophie, Arbeitsbereich Praktische Philosophie
University of Graz
Graz, Austria
Stephen Goss has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Social Scientists (LFHCfSS). He says:
Dr Stephen Goss teaches post-qualification doctoral research in counselling, psychotherapy and related fields at the Metanoia Institute (Middlesex University) in London and is co-Editor (Counselling) of the British Journal of Guidance and Counselling. His specialist subjects include pluralist research methods, evaluation of mental health care, innovations in service delivery methods – particularly technological means of connecting practitioners and clients – and service development. His recent publications include Making Research Matter (in press 2015, Routledge). He has also published several books along with about 100 other things, including various guidelines for online counselling and psychotherapy.
Stephen Goss, Ph.D., MBACP, BA(Hons), LFHCfSS
Principal Lecturer, DPsych (Professional Studies) programme
Metanoia Institute
Middlesex University
London, UK
The joint membership committee of the The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS), the Luxuriant Facial Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS), and the Luxuriant Former Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS) is proud and pleased to sheepishly announce the creation of the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Social Scientists.
The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Social Scientists (LFHCfSS) was founded this month, February 2015, after the joint membership committee decided that it had been purely snooty in excluding social scientists from the clubs.
These are conjoined quadruplet clubs — members of each club are accorded full honorary privileges of the other clubs.
The members of all four clubs can and should be seen and admired online.
UPDATE (February 10, 2015): Almost immediately, the membership committee moved, unanimously, to make the new club fully inclusive, thus changing the name to Luxuriant Flowing, Former, or Facial Hair Club for Social Scientists (LFFFHCfSS).
Halfdan Skjerning has joined the Luxuriant Flowing, Former, or/and Facial Hair Club for Social Scientists (LFHCfSS). He says:
I study Health-Related Quality of Life in children and adolescents with celiac disease. I am fascinated by the resilience or stubbornness of the beard. When trimmed down, it keeps growing out again – it’s like it doesn’t learn, or maybe it has a will of its own. Equally intriguing are the reactions of other people towards the beard; some want to touch it and look upon it with envy, while others are intimidated by it. You can tell a lot about people from their reactions to beard.
Halfdan Skjerning, Ph.D, M.Sc. Psych., LFFFHCfSS
Psychologist
Hans Christian Andersen Children’s Hospital
University of Southern Denmark
Odense, Denmark
