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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
The gallery of failed atomic models, 1903-1913
It is often said that history is “written by the victors”. While this statement is usually referring to the winners of a military or political conflict, a similar effect occurs in the history of science. Physics textbooks, for instance, often … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Physics
41 Comments
China earthquake and a word about seiches
The tally of death and devastation in China in the aftermath of the earthquake continues to grow; now the official death toll is 22,000, with 14,000 still buried under rubble. In addition, repeated aftershocks are hitting the region. Numerous eyewitness … Continue reading
Posted in General science, Physics, Science news
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Measuring neural activity using surface plasmons
In the May 1st issue of Optics Letters, a Korean research group has demonstrated another interesting application of surface plasmon resonances: the optical measurement of neural activity. Though I’m not sure how useful this technique will be in the long … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics
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Classic Science Paper: Otto Wiener’s experiment (1890)
Update: In my haste to finish this “monster” post, I neglected to include an introduction to standing waves, an explanation which is crucial to understanding the experiment. That oversight has been corrected. A couple of weeks ago I issued a … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Optics, Physics
19 Comments
New theoretical results in the study of extraordinary optical transmission
Right after “challenging” my fellow science bloggers to find and write about an old scientific paper, I take a hypocritical turn and write about some recent results in the theory of extraordinary optical transmission! In a paper that came out … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics
10 Comments
Invisibility Physics: Acceleration without radiation, part I
A couple of years ago, a number of physicists made international news (some descriptions here and here) by proposing that “cloaking devices” were theoretically possible to construct. Two papers appeared consecutively in Science Magazine in May 2006, one by U. … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Optics, Physics
17 Comments
Like a zombie, perpetual motion digs itself out of the grave, again
Wandering through StumbleUpon.com‘s science links often looks more like a drunken stagger through the realm of crackpot science. The previous one I found, using Coulomb’s law to get free energy, I passed along to Tyler to deal with as it … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Physics
8 Comments
Fizeau’s experiment: The original paper
When I wrote my ‘speed of light’ post, I had to do a lot of searching to find Fizeau’s original paper. Fizeau, as I mentioned, produced the first terrestrial measurement of the speed of light, using a rapidly rotating toothed … Continue reading
Posted in Physics
17 Comments
Relativity: Measuring the speed of light
When I was an undergraduate, one of my professors told the following funny (and probably apocryphal) anecdote (recalled from memory): A court case was being tried in New Mexico. A group of pornographers were charged with smuggling pornography from Mexico … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics, Relativity
20 Comments
Event horizons in water flow: the math!
In a previous post, I discussed recent research which demonstrated the creation of an artificial ‘event horizon’ in a fiber optic cable. In that post, I described how a river speeding up as it goes towards a waterfall has an … Continue reading
Posted in Mathematics, Physics
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