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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
Announcing: Mathematical Methods for Optical Physics and Engineering!
I’ve mumbled various random things in the past about my upcoming textbook project; this week, I finally got approval from the publisher to start hyping it on the blog. (Actually, they never prohibited it, but I just got around to … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Personal, Physics
18 Comments
To describe, or not to describe…
In a recent post, Chad at Uncertain Principles addresses an interesting criticism of one of his posts. In short, he attempted to summarize the essential features of quantum mechanics that set it apart from other, classical theories of physics. As … Continue reading
Posted in Physics
3 Comments
Mythbusters were scooped — by 130 years! (Finger in the barrel)
During my first evening in San Antonio, I sequestered myself in my hotel room to polish up my presentation. Fortunately, there was a Mythbusters marathon on the Discovery Channel at that time, so I was able to keep myself marginally … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, History of science, Physics
11 Comments
Lord Kelvin vs. the Aether! (1901)
The more I study the history of aether physics, the more I feel that modern physicists underappreciate both the huge influence the theory had on the development of physics and how it indirectly spurred many positive scientific discoveries, even though … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
14 Comments
Lord Rayleigh’s comments on invisibility (1884)
Found it! I pointed out in my previous invisibility post that R.W. Wood attributes an early discussion of invisibility to Lord Rayleigh in his Encyclopædia Britannica article on optics; however, I couldn’t find the quote after browsing Rayleigh’s articles and … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Invisibility
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The first paper on invisibility? (1902)
When discussing the history of invisibility physics, I typically cite Ehrenfest’s 1910 paper on radiationless motions as the first publication dedicated to the subject. Ehrenfest’s paper, which attempts to explain how electrons could oscillate in a classical atom without radiating, … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Optics
9 Comments
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
