Double Dept.: a beautiful hand.(The Talk of the Town)

Publication: The New Yorker

Publication Date: 11-MAR-02

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COPYRIGHT 2002 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.

Dave Bayer's hands are broad and slightly hairy, with wide thumbs and a few small scabs -- abrasions from a recent rock-climbing trip. At first glance, they're nothing special, but when viewed from certain angles they look a lot like Russell Crowe's. "They're not so dissimilar," Bayer, a forty-six-year-old mathematics professor at Barnard College, said the other day, resting his palms on the living-room table in his apartment on Riverside Drive. "Russell's hands are a shade stouter than mine. He's a very athletic guy. I try to be, but you should see him at the gym."

Bayer discovered this manual affinity while working on the film "A Beautiful Mind," which stars...

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