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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Author Archives: skullsinthestars
Who first suggested the nuclear atom?
Here’s a little obscure physics trivia for you: who first suggested that an atom might have a structure consisting of a positively-charged “nucleus” surrounded by orbiting electrons? The easy, and mostly correct, answer is Ernest Rutherford. In 1909, he supervised … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
7 Comments
Mr. Faraday goes wild — with atomic speculation! (1844)
Michael Faraday (1791-1867), whom I’ve talked about numerous times, has a reputation as being a bit of a theoretical lightweight, namely because he had little formal mathematical training. In spite of this, however, he had an ability to think abstractly … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
7 Comments
Mary Shelley’s The Last Man
I have to admit that the collapse of the world economy has gotten me into a rather pessimistic, even doomed, mindset. Some months ago I decided to use this mindset constructively and began reading a series of novels with a … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
13 Comments
I saw Steve Carell way back when… I think…
My mind, in particular my memory, often works in bizarre ways, especially when it comes to film and television. I’ve regularly identified movies and television shows that I’ve never even seen from a split second clip during the flip of … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Silliness
2 Comments
Back in the air!
The weather has finally been getting nice enough again to get some consistent skydiving in and not freeze one’s ass off at the same time! The following video is actually back from January, but I finally got around to uploading … Continue reading
Posted in Sports
3 Comments
The birds have fledged!
Just a quick update about the family of house finches we’ve had on our front door wreath: the babies have fledged! This previous Tuesday, we chanced a peek into the nest and saw a little face peeking back at us: … Continue reading
Posted in Animals
4 Comments
The Giant’s Shoulders #10 is up!
The tenth edition of The Giant’s Shoulders is up at Stochastic Scribbles! Thanks to Yoo for assembling it! The next edition will appear on May 16th at Curving Normality.
Posted in General science, Science news
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Levitation and diamagnetism, or: LEAVE EARNSHAW ALONE!!!
In one of my regular explorations of StumbleUpon I happened across a nice homemade demonstration of magnetic levitation on a page called spark, bang, buzz. The demonstration is adapted from a description at scitoys.com. The setup is illustrated schematically below: … Continue reading
Posted in Physics
28 Comments
Terminator and Dollhouse: excellent, again
Just a short note: I’ve been rather preoccupied with classes and other academic responsibilities and haven’t had much time to work on detailed physics blog posts. This will hopefully change this week, as I’ve got a few ideas in the … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment
11 Comments
Skulls in the Stars 