From Martin Bide
Your article on beard fashions (19/26 December 2015, p 67) was particularly interesting. I teach a colour science course, including a brief summary of the science of light, with slides showing portraits of famous figures who have contributed.
I invite students who might otherwise lose interest to consider the change in facial hairstyles over the centuries. The ancients, Democritus and Aristotle, are bearded, as is Galileo. In the 17th century Ole Rømer, Isaac Newton and Christiaan Huygens are clean-shaven. That style continues for a century or more: Hans Christian Oersted and Michael Faraday are also handy with the razor.
By the mid-19th century, beards are back: James Clerk Maxwell is notably hirsute, Hippolyte Fizeau is somewhat tidier and Heinrich Hertz has a very neatly trimmed beard. Suddenly, in the late 19th century, it’s moustaches: Albert Michelson, Edward Morley, Max Planck, Joseph John Thomson and Albert Einstein all comply.
I don’t see any glitter, however.
Kingston, Rhode Island, US
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