-
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
Curves… in… spaaaace! (1890)
One of the tragedies of STEM education is the seemingly eternal perception by the general public that mathematics is boring and repetitive. Most people, of course, end their math education with algebra at most, though some work their way through … Continue reading
Posted in Mathematics
6 Comments
John Blackburn’s The Cyclops Goblet
Another new Valancourt Books edition of a classic John Blackburn book has been released, and it includes another masterful* introduction by me! This time, the book is John Blackburn’s 1977 novel The Cyclops Goblet. John Blackburn (1923-1993) was a prolific … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
Leave a comment
The Open Laboratory 2013 is out!
While I was at ScienceOnline 2014 last week, I received some great news: the 2013 edition of “The Open Laboratory,” an anthology of the “best science writing online,” was published! It is available as an e-book from The Creativist, and … Continue reading
Posted in Personal, Science news
2 Comments
1895: Cats meddle in geophysics
Updated slightly to add even more cat goodness! The more I research, the more it becomes clear that cats caused all sorts of mischief in the scientific community in the late 1800s! The source of this mischief is the feline … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, History of science, Physics
Leave a comment
Larry Blamire’s Tales of the Callamo Mountains
One of the things I love about using Twitter is the opportunity to connect with people whose work I admire, from writers to scientists to artists to actors to musicians. Those connections can then lead you to new “discoveries” that … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Robert E. Howard
6 Comments
How *do* cats land on their feet when falling, anyway?
This post is an exploration of some ideas I put together for a proposed magazine article. Will link to the article if and/or when it becomes available! Last year, I wrote a blog post about the history of “cat-turning”: the … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Physics
8 Comments
Basil Copper’s The Black Death
Ever since reading author Basil Copper’s The Great White Space (1974) and Necropolis (1980), both of which were recently reprinted by Valancourt Books, I’ve been binge-reading the works of Basil Copper. I’ve read two of his short story collections so … Continue reading
Posted in Horror, Mystery/thriller
Leave a comment
Infinite series: not quite as weird as some would say
Updated with a third footnote clarifying my use of the term “diverge,” thanks to suggestion by Evelyn Lamb, who has also written an excellent discussion of the problem with the video. At the end of this post I list all the … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Mathematics
32 Comments
The Case of the Telephone in His Hat (1894)
The history of science provides me with a practically never-ending set of delightful surprises! Case in point is a set of articles I found while browsing through volume 17 of Current Literature, “A Magazine of Record and Review,” published in … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, History of science
2 Comments
Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama
I must admit that I’ve never been a particularly avid reader of science fiction. I’ve read very few of the works of the classic authors such as Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, and Bradbury*, and I have many boxes unchecked in my … Continue reading
Posted in Science fiction
11 Comments
Skulls in the Stars 