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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: Optics
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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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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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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Light, by Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke
I have a lot of catching up to do in terms of popular science books, so I’ve recently been doing an intense amount of reading. A lot of my focus has been on reading books by people I’m acquainted with … Continue reading
“Singular Optics” is available for pre-order!
Those who know me well know that I’ve been working hard for several years on a new optics textbook. Well, I can finally say that it is available for pre-order on Amazon! The book is Singular Optics, by me: Gregory … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Personal
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Optics by hot air balloon?
The first in a (hopefully) series of posts inspired by topics covered in my upcoming textbook on singular optics. Crewed balloon rides have a surprisingly large role in the history of science. The first untethered balloon flight was performed in Paris on November … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics
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Physics demonstrations: the Mirascope
I recently participated again in the annual UNCC Science and Technology Expo, showing off neat science demos to the public. This year, I decided to add a table of “Optics and Illusions,” to show how science and our own brains can … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics demos
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Optics and infinity at American Scientist!
I’ve been kind of quiet here lately, partly due to my job and partly due to writing blog posts and essays for other venues. Happily, one of these blog posts is now available to read over at American Scientist, on … Continue reading
Posted in Mathematics, Optics, Personal
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Hilda Hänchen and the Goos-Hänchen effect
Today, the United Nations declared February 11 to be the “International Day of Women and Girls in Science,” starting a new effort to get more women into science and keep them there. In honor of this new day, I thought … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Optics, Women in science
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