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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: Physics
Quasicrystals… now all natural!
This result came out a few months ago, and I’ve been looking for the time to write about it ever since: in a paper published in the June 5 issue of Science, scientists reported the discovery of the first natural … Continue reading
Posted in Physics
5 Comments
Computed tomography as art
A friend (h/t David) sent this to me a bit over a week ago, and now that I’m less distracted by work, I thought I’d pass it along! On August 23rd, The Daily Mail reported on a new science-based art … Continue reading
Posted in Physics
2 Comments
The other meaning of “dimension” and its use in physics
Thanks to the advent of relativity theory, and string theory in recent decades, there’s a lot of talk in physics about space having extra, unseen dimensions — up to 11 spacetime dimensions in one version of string theory! These days, … Continue reading
Posted in Physics
14 Comments
Why I left experimental particle physics – a meandering story
Some time ago, I promised that I would tell the story of my transition from experimental particle physics to theoretical optics. With a lot of busy stuff going on at work and my research blogging efforts mired in some rather … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Personal, Physics
19 Comments
Invisibility physics: “Reflectionless” objects make an appearance
(This is a continuation of my “history of invisibility physics” series of posts. The earlier posts are: Part I, Part II, Part III.) Up through the late 1940s, it seems that the only type of invisibility that authors were considering … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility
6 Comments
Scientific cranks: Going strong since at least 1891
It is easy to assume that scientific crankery is a relatively new phenomenon, perhaps fueled by the completely non-intuitive, sometimes intimidating nature of many modern scientific theories. In physics, for instance, most cranks spend their time attacking Einstein’s theories of … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, History of science, Physics
7 Comments
Thomas Levenson’s Newton and the Counterfeiter
About a month ago, I noted that Thomas Levenson’s book Newton and the Counterfeiter (2009) is now available: The book is the story of how the great scientist Isaac Newton, after making the discoveries which electrified the scientific world, took … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
8 Comments
Maxwell on Faraday
I’m working on a few longer posts at the moment, but in the meantime I thought I’d share a nice little passage I came across while looking through James Clerk Maxwell‘s A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1873). Maxwell, of … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
3 Comments
Lord Rayleigh vs. the Aether! (1902)
(Note: This is an attempt to get myself rolling on my long-ignored series of posts explaining Einstein’s theories of relativity. It’s also a really cool experiment in the history of science.) One of the most fascinating aspects of 19th century … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Optics, Relativity
10 Comments
Invisibility physics: Hiding and seeking, all at once!
When the first papers on the idea of a “cloaking” device came out in 2006, lots of people were immediately worried that the CIA would soon be peering right over their shoulder from the shelter of invisibility cloaks. Many scientists, … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Optics
2 Comments
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