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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
16 years of Skulls in the Stars!
Just a quick note that I’ve been blogging now for 16 years, as of today, as WordPress reminded me! It’s wild that 16 years is almost 1/3 of my life that I’ve been writing this blog, and no plans to … Continue reading
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Invisibility talk at Natural Sciences at Raleigh!
Wanted to announce that I’ll be doing a Science Cafe at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences this coming Thursday, August 17th, at 7:00 pm! It will be both an in-person event as well as a livestream on YouTube, … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Personal
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A “remarkable lightning stroke,” 1879
One of the fun things about reading early science journals and magazines is finding anecdotes about unusual phenomena that are sent in by readers and published. While I was writing my previous blog post about Tyndall and Mayer, I came … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, History of science
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Me on science writing in Optics & Photonics News!
A couple of months ago, the folks who run Optics & Photonics News at Optica, the optical society, asked if I could write a post for their “careers” blog about my path to writing popular science books. Well, the post … Continue reading
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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
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Skulls in the Stars 