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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
My tips for scientific conference presentations
This semester, I decided to replace the final exam in one of my upper-level graduate courses with a short 15 minute presentation on a scientific paper related to the course topic. To give the students some guidance, I provided a … Continue reading
Posted in Personal, Physics
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Hanbury Brown and Twiss and their impossible interferometer (1956)
Update: fixed a mistake in my numbers for telescope resolution, which I had worse by a factor of 10. Science is in general intended to be a serious business, but every once in a while one comes across some serious … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Optics, Physics
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Electromagnetic Optics available for pre-order!
Let me just share a short note here that my Electromagnetic Optics textbook is now available for pre-order, to be published in March 2025! The link to the IoP Publishing site is here. The official description of the book: Light … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Personal
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Alley, by Junji Ito
Book 13 of 26 books for 2024! Fighting to complete most of my objective, in spite of life throwing me a lot of tough curveballs. I’ve spent a significant amount of time talking about the work of Junji Ito, a … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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The Book of Iod, by Henry Kuttner
Book 12 of 26 books for 2024! Let’s see if I can get to 50% read by the end of the weekend… I have long been a fan of the work of Henry Kuttner, who was perhaps the most versatile … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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Aliens: Phalanx, by Scott Sigler
Book 11 of my 26 books for 2024 goal! Still gonna try to make it to 26! Sometimes I come across a book premise that is so intriguing that I snap up the book almost as a reflex action. Such … Continue reading
Posted in Fantasy fiction, Horror, Science fiction
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Halloween Treats 2024: Revenants!
Every year since I’ve started this blog, I’ve published a few classic open access stories of horror for the Halloween season! In recent years, I’ve started to make a theme for each year. This year, the theme is “revenants”: spirits … Continue reading
Posted in Horror
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A TikTok video on anholonomy, Foucault’s pendulum, and falling cats!
I’ve been spending more time making videos lately on TikTok, and I saw a video from a young woman inadvertently demonstrating the concept of anholonomy, which is related to everything from Foucault’s pendulum to light polarization to falling cats! I … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics
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Invisibility shortlisted for Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science!
Hi all! I always like to post nice book news here, partly for my own recollection, but I learned today that my book on Invisibility: The History and Science of How Not to be Seen was shortlisted for the 2024 … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Personal
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Skulls in the Stars 