-
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
John Wyndham’s The Midwich Cuckoos
I’ve been reading through a number of classic science fiction novels that were adapted into the classic science fiction movies of the 50s and 60s; so far, I’ve tackled John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There? (turned into The Thing From … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
2 Comments
Isaac Asimov’s How Did We Find Out About Black Holes
About a month ago, Blake over at Science After Sunclipse posted an image of some of his early kindergarten science scribblings. That got me thinking about my own early interest in science, and the sources that motivated me. While visiting … Continue reading
Posted in Physics
5 Comments
The Crystal World, by J.G. Ballard
I’ve been slowly working my way through a huge collection of apocalyptic novels in preparation for another major blog post. Amazon has clued in to my bleak, weird taste in books and recommended The Crystal World (1966), by J.G. Ballard: … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Weird fiction
2 Comments
Home from the holidays!
Whew! The fiancée and I managed to get back home last night without any serious hassles. We’ve been simply exhausted, though, because our trip involved three legs: a starting visit with my family in Chicago for a couple of days, … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
3 Comments
A Patrick Swayze Christmas, by MST3K
I’ve got to continue the holiday tradition I started last Christmas; I therefore present, “A Patrick Swayze Christmas”: In the spirit of the season, I offer sincere best wishes and ‘get well soon’ to Patrick Swayze, who has been fighting … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Silliness
Leave a comment
Mr. Faraday’s (most excellent) experimental researches in electricity (1831)
Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) was a master of electricity. His researches established may important results in electromagnetic theory, including some which are now so taken for granted that Faraday’s name is unfortunately not even thought of in connection with … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
28 Comments
Announcing the usual holiday slowdown…
Tomorrow, I head off into the great abyss… visiting relatives for the holidays! (Just kidding, everyone!) I’m going to try and post a few things of substance while I’m away, but I’m sure I’ll get less done than I expect. … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Leave a comment
100k page view milestone!
I passed another blogging milestone several days ago — 100,000 total page views! The funny thing: on the 13th, I was still at 84,000. Then someone put my “Spot the math errors!” post on StumbleUpon (thanks for that, whoever did … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
5 Comments
The ‘true’ face of Cleopatra?
Via The Huffington Post, I found this fascinating article in The Daily Mail about recent efforts to reconstruct an image of the legendary Egyptian queen, Cleopatra. Cleopatra (69 BC – 30 BC) was the last Pharaoh of a (nearly) independent … Continue reading
Posted in Science news
7 Comments
The Giant’s Shoulders #6 is up!
The sixth edition of The Giant’s Shoulders is up at Rigorous Trivialities! If you would like to read about classic scientific research in multiple fields, follow the link. Many thanks to Charles for putting it together! The next edition is … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Science news
Leave a comment
Skulls in the Stars 