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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. -
Category Archives: History of science
François Arago: the most interesting physicist in the world!
When he was seven years old, he tried to stab a Spanish solider with a lance When he was eighteen, he talked a friend out of assassinating Napoleon He once angered an archbishop so much that the holy man punched … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, History of science
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A Michael Faraday Christmas: “Forces of Matter”!
This post was written somewhat in conjunction with Jennifer Ouellette, who is posting at the same time at Cocktail Party Physics about Michael Faraday’s other classic Christmas lecture, The Chemical History of a Candle. Check it out, too! Ah, Christmas! … Continue reading
Posted in History of science
3 Comments
Sir Edmond Halley takes a dive! (1714)
If you study enough history of science, you learn that the things that scientists are most famous for are often not their only work of interest — or even the most fascinating thing they’ve done! The significance of a scientist’s … Continue reading
Posted in History of science
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Mireya Mayor’s “Pink Boots and a Machete”
In my studies of historical figures, I’ve reserved a special spot in my heart for those people whose lived their lives, for lack of a better word, “awesomely”. My criterion for such “awesome” people is to imagine them arriving … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Women in science
6 Comments
“On matter as a form of energy” (written in 1881)
It is unarguably the most famous scientific equation of all time: . This equation, developed in the early 1900s by Albert Einstein as a consequence of his special theory of relativity, implies that energy and mass are equivalent and interchangeable, … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
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A curious 1880s account of ball lightning
The older scientific journals (pre-1900) are filled with many curious and strange eyewitness accounts. By the late 1800s, science had reached a level at which researchers felt confident enough to investigate a wide variety of unusual phenomena, but did not … Continue reading
Posted in History of science
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Science careers: rough today, rough in 1886
Science has changed a lot over the past hundred years or so, but the lives and problems of scientists have, in many ways, remained surprisingly constant. In a previous post, I described how, in 1804, a mathematician was already lamenting … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, History of science
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Spiders and the electric light (1887)
(Digging through my archive of historical papers for short topics to blog about while I’m away on business.) In the modern era, we are very conscious of the impact of humanity on nature — even though we are often very … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Animals, History of science
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Paris: City of Light and Cosmic Rays on Scientific American guest blog!
If you’ve been waiting for another in-depth blog post from me on physics and the history of science, wait no longer — just don’t look for it here! I’ve written a post for the Scientific American Guest Blog that went … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
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It’s not shrinkage — it’s relativity! (1889)
The best stories in the history of physics are those in which someone comes from humble origins and, seemingly out of nowhere, makes a brilliant discovery that changes everything. Such stories, however, can give a very misleading impression of the … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics, Relativity
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