Improbable Research

Drs. Schuch, Linsner, and Jung are members. (Click the image to see it full size, or see an alternate view)

Dr. Diane DiMassa is a member. (Click the image to see it full size)

Many scientists have received membership since 2001 and these pages include photos and biographies for most of them.

The earlier years are celebrated in our six (6) Galleries of Early Members. New members now appear first in The Improbable Blog's LFHCfS category, and are later gathered into Member Galleries based on the year they were inducted.

"I was told I should become a member of LFHCfS.  While I would never want to join any organization that would have someone like me as a member, this may be an exception."   — Prof. John Quackenbush, LFHCfS

We occasionaly honor particular scientists as our Woman and Man of the Year.

    2017 Woman & Man of the Year

    2016 Woman & Man of the Year

    2015 Woman & Man of the Year

    2004/5 Women & Men of the Year

    2002/3 Woman & Man of the Year

Many scientists with luxuriant flowing hair made their contribution to science before the LFHCfS was founded.

For their memory, we offer this page of Historical Honorary Members

To propose yourself for membership in any of these hair clubs, please email

1. A photograph (or a URL that points to a photograph) in which the luxuriant, flowing hair is CLEARLY evident [Applicants for the Luxuriant Flowing Hair club please note: a formal Below-the-Clavicle rule, proposed by the Standards Committee in 2009 and adopted in 2013, must be respected]
2. A statement of which of the hair clubs you are hoping to join
3. A URL pointing to your credentials as a scientist
4. A pithy statement and identifying information about yourself, written in standard LFHCfS format (see any recent club entry for an example of this).

Please send this nomination to: LUXURIANT HAIR CLUB <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>.

You may nominate someone other than yourself, provided that the person meets the qualifications and that you have first obtained that person's enthusiastic consent.

NOTE: Each new member is entitled, should he or she request it, to a free issue of the Annals of Improbable Research and to any other membership perks noted in the PUBLIC ADMIRATION section of this page.

When working on her doctoral dissertation in psychology, Robin Abrahams dreamed one night that she was asked to be the editor of a prestigious psychology journal with a singular editorial policy: all articles must mention Steven Pinker's luxuriant, flowing hair.

She told Marc Abrahams about this dream and the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists was born.

The initial list of The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists members was assembled by a subcommittee comprised of seven members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and was intended to be a nucleating seed, from which a larger list could grow.

The project was first announced in February 2001, in that month's issue of the mini-AIR newsletter.  The first member, chosen by acclamation, was psychologist Steven Pinker, whose hair has long been the object of admiration, and envy, and intense study.  From that lone, Pinkerian seed, there has grown a spreading chestnut, black, blond, and red-haired membership tree.  Beginning in 2006, each new member has been announced by Improbable Research on our blog.

The Luxuriant Former Hair Club for Scientists was founded in January 2010.

The Luxuriant Facial Hair Club for Scientists was founded in May 2010.

The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Social Scientists was founded in February 2015, after the joint membership committee of the The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists, the Luxuriant Facial Hair Club for Scientists, and the Luxuriant Former Hair Club for Scientists decided that it had been purely snooty in excluding social scientists from the clubs. Almost immediately, the membership committee moved, unanimously, to make the new club fully inclusive, thus changing the club's name to Luxuriant Flowing, Former, or Facial Hair Club for Social Scientists (LFFFHCfSS).

The Luxuriant Flowing, Former, or Facial Hair Club for Engineess (LFFFHCfE) was founded in September 2017, after years of patient calculations and petitions from qualified engineers.

The Luxuriant Flowing, Former, or Facial Hair Club for Science Journalists (LFFFHCfSJ) was founded in October 2015, at the suggestion of Dutch science journalist Ellen de Bruin, who became the new club's first member.

The public loves to see and applaud scientists who have luxuriant flowing hair, a luxuriant head of former hair, or luxuriant flowing facial hair.  Therefore, all LFHCfS members who come to Improbable Research events are invited to take a bow, allowing the audience to shower them and their hair with applause.  Please let a member of our event staff know that you are a member so we can give you this important moment.

In addition to the public admiration, each new member is entitled, should he or she request it, to a free issue of the Annals of Improbable Research.

Members and Non-Members alike may find it useful to know about a few organizations and resources relating to luxuriant flowing hair.

• The European Hair Research Society
• Shampoo Market Forecasts, November 2013 (collected industry reports)
• "Shame and glory: a sociology of hair" by Anthony Synnott
• Hair-related Ig Nobel prizes can be found on the Winners page. Notably in 2008, 2010, 2012, and again in 2012.
• The January/February 2010 issue of AIR featured a special section devoted to "Beards & Bagels & Paper Airplanes"
• Hair and Moustaches in the Far West: 1873 to 1899
• Some of our members report that they have donated hair to Locks of Love and others to Wigs 4 Kids

The 2004 Ig Nobel Tour of the UK and Ireland included appearances by LFHCfS members and their hair — and also a contest to choose the Science Barnet of the year. (Click the image to see it full size)