The Most Attractive Physicist Contest!

Yes, folks, If you are looking for deep, profound physics issues, this blog post is NOT IT! :) I've decided, for this one post, to be shallow, perky, and superficial! After all, we know that such characteristics are what draws in the attention of the public and politicians! So I've decided to become just that!

I had a discussion with a friend regarding my post on the fact that I don't "look" like a physicist, at least, to many people who didn't have an a priori knowledge of my profession. In all my years of interacting with other physicists and scientists in general, there certainly is a type of "look" that one would associate with a physicist. I don't mean the absent-minded, hair-sticking-out-in-all-direction, socks-don't-match type of look. That's too stereotypical and inaccurate. I'm talking about the look of "intelligence", some might even called "dignified", and maybe even a few thick glasses here and there, that many people associate with being a physicist. But this also does not cover everyone. One would be very surprised to learn (or maybe not) that there are physicists, both men and women, who are quite attractive. I mean, there are those who could easily grace the covers of Vogue, GQ, etc. In fact, in my post on The Science Channel silly "documentary" on the Big Bang, I commented on the fact that the host of that show, physicist João Magueijo, might be one of the most attractive physicists that I've seen. And anyone who has met Lisa Randall would have to admit that she is also very easy on the eyes.

So there's ample evidence there that there are physicists, both male and female, who clearly tip the scale in terms of attractiveness. So what about this contest? Ah, this is where we dive into the depth of the world of superficial. I want to have a contest where we nominate the physicist who we think is attractive, and then we all vote on them! How much fun is that? :)

So here are the rules:

1. Anyone can nominate a physicist who he/she thinks is a candidate for being the most attractive. The deadline for nomination is Sept. 15, 2010.

2. You may nominate as many as you want. HOWEVER, you should include either a picture, or at least a link to a picture, so that the voters have an idea what this physicist looks like. The links can also be videos, etc., i.e. anything to give the rest of us a good idea on this person's feature. This will be useful especially if it is someone who is not a household name.

3. You may nominate someone based on his/her attractiveness at a different age. For example, the Albert Einstein who worked at the Swiss Patent Office may be more attractive than the one that landed at Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. So if you are nominating Einstein in his younger years, you have to accompany that nomination with a picture of him in that age.

4. If you are submitting someone who isn't a household name, it would also help that you include a link to show that this person is a physicist. A link to either a paper, or university position, etc. would be sufficient. But how do I define a physicist, you ask? To me, anyone with a physics degree, even if that person isn't a practicing physicist, qualifies! I may have to contact you if I can't verify a nominee's credentials.

5. Don't be afraid to nominate yourself, if you are a physicist, and if you think you might qualify as being attractive. Or nominate your colleagues, with their permission, of course! I want as many good-looking physicists as I can get for this contest.

6. Submit your vote by adding a comment to this blog post. If you do not wish to have your nomination made public, please clearly indicate as such and your nomination will not be released (all comments to this blog are moderated and will only be made public upon release by me).

7. At the end of the nomination period, I will tally up all the nomination, and will select the Top 5 the male and a separate Top 5 for the female physicist.

8. I will then open up the voting to all readers of this blog, so YOU get to choose who you think is the most attractive male and female physicist. I haven't decided yet on what I'll do if we end up with a tie, so I'll just make things up as I go along if that happens.

So off we go!!

Edit: Nomination period is now over. No more nominations please. New comments submitting nominations will not be approved, not because I disagree, but I don't want to include it on here so that I won't be confused on who got nominated when.

Zz.