So I was curious to read about ski waxing. And I thought, well maybe there is some home-brew, anecdotal, crappy knowledge, but there isn’t any real science behind this.

Uh no.

There isn’t just some research out there, there is a body of research on the topic.

There is a field. I found this thesis which concentrates on a subset of the co-efficients  that affect the performance of skii’s.

Click to access LTU-LIC-0603-SE.pdf

I’m sorry.

I didn’t realize. Waxing at the Olympic level requires a Ph.D..

The countries with the deepest research departments, and the best athletes have a decided edge.

Wow.