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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 Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin
After reading the epic Foundation series of novels by Asimov, I was in the mood for a change of pace in science fiction. I turned to another brilliant author, Ursula K. Le Guin, and her classic 1969 novel The Left … Continue reading
Posted in Science fiction
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Pepper’s last optical illusion: metempsychosis
A month ago, I shared the lengthy, odd and sometimes dramatic history of the illusion commonly known as “Pepper’s ghost,” which I believe is more properly called the “Pepper-Dircks ghost.” In researching this post, I uncovered a wealth of fascinating … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Optics
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Foundation’s Edge, Foundation and Earth, by Isaac Asimov
Been rather preoccupied recently with life, but I finally have a moment to catch up on a bit of my book blogging, including discussing the “final” two books of Asimov’s classic Foundation series, namely, Foundation’s Edge (1982) and Foundation and … Continue reading
Posted in Science fiction
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Twitter Weird Science Facts: Full Year and Final Volume!
This is it — the last regular installment of my Twitter weird science facts! I’ve done a full year of weirdscifacts, averaging one fact per day for the entire year (though I’ve had to play catch up on missed days … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Weirdscifacts
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19th century optics FAILs
My recent post on the Pepper-Dircks ghost didn’t include even close to all of the interesting tidbits it could have! There are so many things to learn from the story of the ghost, including some lessons about optics. For example: … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, History of science, Optics
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Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy
I’ve recently been trying to become more acquainted with science fiction as a genre, as most of my life I’ve been focused primarily on horror fiction. A natural and obvious place to place some emphasis is on classic works from the … Continue reading
Posted in Science fiction
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Twitter Weird Science Facts, Volume 19
Happy Holidays! Nearing completion of a full year of facts! Read on to learn what this strange leech-based device was designed to do.
Posted in General science, Weirdscifacts
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Michael Faraday meets “The Ghost”
My most recent blog post, concerning the history of the Pepper-Dircks Ghost, was extremely long but didn’t even include all the fascinating aspects of its history. For instance: the ghost was such an incredibly effective illusion that it even drew … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Optics, Physics
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Dircks and Pepper: A Tale of Two Ghosts
It is often told that in the 1860s, John Henry Pepper used science and technology to invent a ghost. Or did he? This is the surprisingly tricky question that we will try to answer in this lengthy post. It is a … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Optics
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The Valancourt Book of Horror Stories
I’ve been following Valancourt Books almost since they started publishing books back in 2005 (and of course I’ve written a number of book intros for them). It has been really exciting to see them expand from their origins in reprinting … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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