Archive for the ‘Beard of the Week’ Category
Beard of the Week L: Portrait of the Artist
self-portrait copyright © 2008 by Bill Pusztai (source), used with permission. This week's beard belongs to Bill Pusztai, a photographer and artist living in Toronto. In this photograph he seems to be doing some yoga but, for our purposes, he is displaying his magnificent beard as well as drawing attention to the gorgeous tattoo on […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Faaabulosity, Music & Art
Beard of the Week XLIX: Wild & Gay Things
This week's beard belongs to Maurice Sendak, the famed artist noted for his book illustration, particularly the celebrated Where the Wild Things Are (from 1963). I write "artist noted for his book illustration" because of the piece in the New York Times ("Concerns Beyond Just Where the Wild Things Are", by Patricia Cohen, 2 September […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Faaabulosity, Music & Art
Beard of the Week XLVIII: Father of the Composer
The week's beard belongs to Pierre Joseph Ravel* (1832-1908), father of the composer Maurice Ravel. As I started this entry I was listening to the concluding movement of Ravel's "Trio for Piano, Violin, and Violoncello", surely one of the most sumptuous sounding pieces I can think of–it's amazing the sound that these three instruments can […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Music & Art
Beard of the Week XLVII: The Maxim Gun
This handsome beard (photo source), a very stylish and modern schnauzer,* belongs to American/British inventor Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (1840–1916). The hedge on nationality comes about because Maxim was born in Sangerville, Maine and lived in a number of east-coast cities, but in 1881 he took up living in London and evidently adopted British citizenship […]
Beard of the Week XLVI: Far from Kansas
The week's BoW entry is a special treat and a BoW first: a guest entry written by Mel, The Indextrious Reader and friend of this blog. Thanks Mel! This week's beard belongs to artist Virgil Burnett (born in Kansas in 1928). A real Renaissance man, he began his career as a student at Columbia University […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Books
Beard of the Week XLV: Work Makes Heat
This week's impressive beard belongs to British physicist James Prescott Joule (1818-1889), the same Joule who gave his name (posthumously) to the SI unit for energy. Wikipedia's article on Joule and his most noted contribution to physics is admirably succinct: Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work (see energy). […]
Beard of the Week XLIV: Infinity and Beyond
This week's beard belongs to Georg Cantor (1845–1918), the German mathematician who advanced set theory into the infinite with his discovery/invention of transfinite arithmetic. Why I hedge over "discovery" or "invention" we'll get to in a moment. I first encountered Cantor's ideas in college in my course of "mathematical analysis", which was largely concerned with […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, It's Only Rocket Science
Beard of the Week XLIII: Let's Make a Deal
This week's beard belongs to David Flannery, a lecturer in mathematics at the Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland. He is shown with his daughter Sarah Flannery, author of the book In Code : A Mathematical Journey (New York : Workman Publishers, 2001); David Flannery is listed as her coauthor. The book is a fascinating, […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Books
Beard of the Week XLII: The Pyramidiot
This week's beard belongs to one Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819–1900), who served as Astronomer Royal for Scotland from 1846 to 1888. That's not the reason for my interest, however. It's his pioneering work in pyramidology that I found out about today and wanted to bring to your attention. At the center of it all: the […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Books, Curious Stuff
Beard of the Week XLI: In Pursuit of the Gene
This week's very smart beard, which might live up to calling it a van Dyke, belongs to geneticist and cellist Edmund Beecher Wilson (1856–1939). On the Columbia University Website, where he is one of their "Living Legacies" (despite his being deceased these last 70 years), he is hailed as the first "cell biologist", with which […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, It's Only Rocket Science
Beard of the Week XL: Plant Pigments
This lovely beard, a beautiful example of a mid-twentieth-century schnauzer, belongs to the chemist Richard Willstätter. I confess that his name was not familiar to me despite his having won the 1915 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Here are two short excerpts from his Nobel biography that summarize his prize-winning research. As a young man he […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, It's Only Rocket Science
Beard of the Week XXXIX: Schütz, Schein, and Scheidt
This week's beard belongs to Philip Cave, who has recently taken up the post of music director at All Souls Memorial Episcopal Church in Washington, DC.† Philip Cave (his website) is an accomplished tenor who has sung with the Hilliard Ensemble, The Sixteen, the Choir of the English Consort, and the King's Consort, among others, […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Music & Art, Personal Notebook
Beard of the Week XXXVIII: Every Beard Type
This lovely beard, called an "anchor" style, belongs to Jon Dyer, of dyers.org. I have recently become familiar with the many beards of Mr. Dyer thanks to a pointer from my friend Tim Wilson. Jon Dyer is clearly a man after my own heart when it comes to an appreciation of beards, with the exception […]
Beard of the Week XXXVII: Evo-Devo Again
The beard at right belongs to author Wallace Arthur, Professor of Zoology at the National University of Ireland, Galway. I recently read his excellent book Creatures of Accident : The Rise of the Animal Kingdom (New York, Hill and Wang, 2006. x + 255 pages). Naturally, there's a book note, with a couple of entertaining […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Books
Beard of the Week XXXVI: A Thriller
This week's beard belongs to Michael Robotham, an Australian author of mystery thrillers. I recently read his book Night Ferry and found it quite a satisfying page-turner, one of the select few where I had to stay up reading until 4am to find out what happened. I had read his two previous books, Lost and […]
Beard of the Week XXXV: The Sound of Music
This week's beard belongs to Thiemo (died 1102), a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church. This information, from Catholic Online, appears to be about half of everything known about Thiemo: Benedictine bishop and martyr, also called Theodinarus. A member of the family of the counts of Meglin, Bavaria, Germany, he entered the Benedictines at […]
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Beard of the Week XXXIV: Medieval Cloisters
This week's beard belongs to Saint Peter Martyr, also known as Peter of Verona. Peter (1205–1252) became a Dominican Friar at the age of 16, apparently received into the order by Dominic himself. He was murdered on a road near Milan, Italy, by being first struck on the head with an ax then stabbed through […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Music & Art
Beard of the Week XXXIII: A Fresh Perspective
This week's beard belongs to Albrecht Dürer, easily in my top-10 of most extraordinary artists ever. This amazing self-portrait was painted when the artist was 29 years old, in the year 1500. Is it symbolic that Dürer paints himself in this remarkably self-possessed, self-confident pose, looking directly at the viewer? It's also interesting that he […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Music & Art
Beard of the Week Special: Valentine's Day 2008
The beards in this special edition BOW belong to yours truly, Jeff (on the right), and his beloved partner, Isaac (on the left). Bill will recognize this photograph, because he took it. The occasion was our first night in Rome on our trip in April 2007. To celebrate our arrival we had dinner al fresco […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Personal Notebook
Beard of the Week XXXII: Beard Eroica
This week's rather elegant beard belong to the Belgian composer Joseph Jongen (1873–1953). His reputation was built largely on his success as an organist, although his smallish catalog of works is diverse. (Wikipedia bio; a brief appreciation in French) This past Sunday we had a cultural outing with friends to Baltimore, where we attended an […]