On April 23, the literary world marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. It's a good excuse for a lot of fuss: Britain's Royal Mint has produced a new £2 coin, the postal service has prepared a set of commemorative stamps depicting portraits of the Bard and thousands of theaters worldwide are expected to celebrate the anniversary.
Japan is no exception. Shakespeare might have been born in Britain but he is truly a global citizen, loved in Japan as much as he is in Russia or Germany or the United States. In 2014, there were 180 theatrical performances inspired by Shakespeare in Tokyo alone. What's more, Japan boasts not one but two reconstructions of the Globe — the 16th-century open-air theater where Shakespeare himself acted in many of his plays.
I hardly need to champion Shakespeare's qualities or his global appeal. What I do need to do, however, is explain why I'm talking about them in a science column. The reason is simple: Recent work has shown that Shakespeare may have been influenced by science.