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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
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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1901: Kaufmann measures relativity and doesn’t know it
The special theory of relativity has been extensively tested ever since Albert Einstein formulated it in 1905, and is essential in understanding numerous fields of physics, from astrophysics to nuclear physics to particle physics. Recently, I’ve been exploring some of … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Relativity
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Dead Reckonings #33 is available!
Just a short note to let folks know that issue number 33 of the horror and weird fiction periodical Dead Reckonings is now available, and it includes another review by me! If you enjoy reading reviews and commentary on horror … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Personal
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The Einstein Theory of Relativity, by Lillian Lieber
I have been criminally unaware of the works of Lillian Lieber until recently. Somehow, I got wind of one of her books, the extremely unconventional 1945 book The Einstein Theory of Relativity, and from the description I knew I had … Continue reading
Posted in Physics, Relativity
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Do scientists debate? Not like that they don’t
This is gonna bit a bit of a rant like the old days of blogging. A few days ago we had anti-vaccine crank and poison pill presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. show up on Joe Rogan’s equally cranky podcast … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, General science
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New collaborative paper on an optical Hilbert’s Hotel!
I need to talk about more of my own research on this blog, and a new collaborative paper that just came out is a good opportunity! This paper presents collaborative work I did with researchers in India at the Physical … Continue reading
Posted in Mathematics, Optics
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A blog milestone and some book news!
So yesterday’s blog post marked a silly milestone: I posted 69 days in a row! Why 69? Because I thought it would be nice? More seriously, I was posting every day for a while as an excuse to promote my … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
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Skulls in the Stars 