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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
John Tyndall rescues Julius Mayer, 1862
I’ve been thinking again recently of the remarkable story of Julius Robert Mayer (1814-1878), the German physician and scientist who was the first person to truly discover the principle of conservation of energy. Most physicists associate James Prescott Joule with … Continue reading
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Two new reviews of Invisibility!
Yesterday was quite the day for book reviews for my book on the history and science of invisibility! First, James Gleick wrote a very nice and thoughtful review of the book for the New York Review of Books; a screenshot … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Personal
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How fast can we communicate with light and radio waves?
I’m pretty forgiving about reading mildly inaccurate physics stuff, especially when it’s in science fiction stories, but every once in a while I read a real zinger that nearly causes me physical pain. Recently I was reading an article about … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics
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70% off of Invisibility on Audiobooks.com through end of July!
Just a quick note: I lost track of this announcement when I first got it: my Invisibility book is 70% off in audio form at Audiobooks.com through the end of July. If you’ve been keen to get a copy in … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Personal
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Interview about Invisibility at Ars Technica!
A little more book news to tide the blog over until I write some new physics posts: around the time the book first came out, I was interviewed by Jennifer Ouellette for Ars Technica about the book, and that interview … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Personal
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Virtual Invisibility book event at Malaprops!!!
Some more book news: I will be doing a virtual book event about my book Invisibility: The History and Science of How Not to Be Seen on Wednesday, August 23 at 6:00 pm EST!!! The event is free but registration … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Personal
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The story of the electron (1901)
When we are taught the history of physics, it is quite common for major discoveries to be introduced in an abbreviated form that loses much of the very interesting context. We are told “Scientist X discovered Y in year XXXX,” … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
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“Invisibility” reviewed at Nature!
My book Invisibility: The History and Science of How Not to Be Seen has been out for about 4 months now, and activity around it has settled down a lot. So it was a lovely surprise when my friend Liza … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Personal
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Sister, Maiden, Monster, by Lucy A. Snyder
One of the absolutely wonderful things that has come from social media, in spite of the many, many downsides (RIP Twitter), has been getting acquainted with and becoming online friends with a lot of great writers. One of those writers … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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What is the Mössbauer effect?
So a few weeks ago I described a 1960 experimental test of time dilation in Einstein’s special theory of relativity that applies the Mössbauer effect to measure precise changes in the frequency of gamma rays. I only briefly described the … Continue reading
Posted in Physics
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Skulls in the Stars 