It's apparently an ancient thing, that short hair is associated with subordination to the system, while long hair is not. Wonder why. Maybe it's just the age at which all men can really have long hair is also the age at which they're most rebellious, and it just snowballed from there?
Stimulus to scalp is non-cultural sensation, short hair allows symbol sets, cultural modes, to rule life. Too connected to the physical and obedience to norms is revealed as feeling wack compared to exploration of freedom and a life based instead in the senses.
I thought this was going to be about some obscure, but interesting mathematical problem that has implications for physics. Something akin to the hairy ball theorem. Nope. It's just what it says on the tin.
I was hoping for an article on nuclear physicists, and how working with radioactive materials when it was still not well understood has left some residual radioactivity detectable in their hair to this day, long after their deaths.
I have an uncle who is a physics professor. His hair is always a frumpled mess like those in the pictures. I always wondered if it was an affectation (this is what physics professors are supposed to look like) or if it just naturally comes with the territory.
Some profs definitely try to look the part so that students are less intimidated and actually ask questions. For some reason, mad scientists with wacky hair are approachable. It's a good thing the physicists in this article helped create the stereotype! Others do it entirely by accident though.
Thank you for sharing.