The SETI League, Inc. Press Release No. 08-08

SETI League Press Release

SETI League Executive Director Emeritus Lauded for Luxuriant Hair
For more information contact: Dr. H. Paul Shuch, Executive Director Emeritus
(201) 641-1770, or email info_at_setileague_dot_org

Little Ferry, NJ.., October 2008 -- Regular visitors to The SETI League website may have noticed in its Featured Photos section that, in the two years since his retirement, Executive Director Emeritus H. Paul Shuch's hair has grown out of control. That fact has now been properly acknowledged, with Shuch's recent induction into the prestigious Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). An initiative of AIR, the Annals of Improbable Research (improbable.com), a spoof periodical that pokes fun at science in general and scientists in particular, LFHCfS seeks to honor those scientific leaders who let their hair down -- all of it -- to boldly flow where no hair has flowed before.

Shuch was recommended for LFHCfS membership by colleague Kathryn Denning, an anthropologist at York University in Canada who has long studied the pecularities of scientists, including their penchant for growing hair. Drs. Shuch and Denning serve together on the SETI Permanent Study Group of the International Academy of Astronautics (iaaseti.org).

When informed of this high honor by AIR editor and chief AIRhead Marc Abrahams of Harvard University, Shuch responded, "Oh, goody. I can't wait to update my curriculum vitae." He vows not to cut his hair until it falls out of its own accord (an occurrence likely to happen sooner rather than later, he notes, given the well established half-life of hair), and hopes this long overdue recognition will propel him toward accomplishing his lifelong goal of being awarded an IgNobel Prize. The annual IgNobels, another AIR initiative, seek to recognize fringe science.

"I deserve this," insists Shuch. "There's no science more fringe than SETI." Then, demonstrating his well-known ability to transmogrify metaphors, he adds, "life is too serious to be taken shortly."

SETI scientists seek to determine through microwave and optical measurements whether humankind is alone in the universe. Since Congress terminated NASA's SETI funding in 1993, The SETI League and other scientific groups have been attempting to privatize the research. Experimenters interested in participating in the search for intelligent alien life, or citizens wishing to help support it, should email to join_at_setileague_dot_org, check the SETI League Web site at http://www.setileague.org/, send a fax to +1 (201) 641-1771, or contact The SETI League, Inc. membership hotline at +1 (800) TAU-SETI. Be sure to provide us with a postal address to which we will mail further information. The SETI League, Inc. is a membership-supported, non-profit [501(c)(3)], educational and scientific corporation dedicated to the electromagnetic Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.

Various pictures of Dr. Shuch's luxuriant flowing hair can be seen in the Images of the Week section of The SETI League website, at www.setileague.org/photos/pixwk08.htm.

P.S. Tearsheets are always appreciated. Thank you.

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