Presidential inaugurations are big deals, and tend to attract high-profile stars like Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Bruce Springsteen who are eager to rub elbows with the newly inaugurated commander-in-chief. But next week, a very unusual celebrity will be appearing in President Obama’s parade: the NASA scientist known as “Mohawk Guy.”
Bobak Ferdowsi, who earned the love and admiration of nerds everywhere as the vertically coiffed activity lead for NASA’s mission to Mars, will be rolling with his fellow scientists in Obama’s inaugural parade on Jan. 21 and a full-scale model of the Curiosity rover that they safely landed on Mars in August of last year, as well as a life-size replica of the new Orion capsule. And in true Ferdowsi fashion, he’s also planning a new haircut for the event – but all he’s saying right now is that it will be a “surprise.”

“I can’t tell you [what it is], but it’s going to be something fun for the occasion, I think it’s going to be fun for everyone there,” Ferdowsi said in an interview with Wired. “It’ll be something related to the event going on, that’s all I’m going to say.”

Since so much of what the public knows about Curiosity comes from the images it beams back from space, Ferdowsi said the parade floats might actually be a good way for people to get a real-life sense of what the Mars rover is.

“I’ve seen some sketches and they look pretty cool – I think the Curiosity one is going to be on some Martian terrain,” Ferdowsi said. “When you see us standing next to it you’ll realize how big it is, I think that’s what’s cool.”

But what’s more likely to draw attention will be the awesome scientist with the cool hair, who became a massive online meme after images of Ferdowsi went online during the rover’s nail-biting Mars landing. There’s even a chance Ferdowsi’s surprise hairstyle could even get a nod from the president himself, who commented after the rover landing that “it does seem NASA has come a long way from the white shirts, dark-rimmed glasses, and pocket protectors. You guys are a little cooler than you used to be.”

Ferdowsi, for his part, hopes his presence at the parade will provide the opportunity for more people to get a taste of the projects that NASA does on a daily basis.

“It will be a fun opportunity to highlight some of the cool things that NASA is doing, including Curiosity,” Ferdowsi said. “[It's] a way of showing a larger audience what we’re up to.”

By Wired

 

The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.