Stephen Wilk is a contributing editor for the Optical Society of America and the author of Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon (OUP; 2000). He holds a Ph.D. in Physics and has worked on Laser Propulsion and High Energy Lasers at Textron and MIT's Lincoln Labs, and has designed and built optical apparatus at Optikos Corporation, Cognex, and AOtec. He was previously a visiting professor at Tufts and a visiting scientist at MIT.

"This unique collection of essays resolves all kinds of interesting questions about optics that appear in history and popular culture. Dr. Wilk has done a splendid job in researching the material and providing answers at a level that will be accessible to a very wide range of readers." --Mark Fox, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield

"Do you wonder how the rainbow was divined into colors or how ray guns came to science fiction? Stephen Wilk tells the real histories behind optical myths and stories. Great fun for the curious mind." --Jeff Hecht, author of Beam: The Race to Make the Laser

"[Readers] will be rewarded with both plenty of optics-based entertainment and some excellent knowledge, worthy of Stephen Fry and QI." --Popular Science

"I certainly learned a lot about our fascinating field, and was delightfully amused. You will be, too!" --Vasudevan Lakshminarayanan, professor of optometry, physics and electrical and computer engineering, University of Waterloo, Optics & Photonics News