Stephen R. Wilk is an optical engineer and project manager at XENON Corporation. He has worked at research labs and small optics firms in the Greater Boston area for many years, and he has written nonfiction books and articles relating to physics, optics, general science, history, mythology, and popular culture. Wilk is perpetually intrigued by the unusual, and he has written about the physics of karate, the trial of an 18th century Lenape Sachem, edible optics, and the inventor of the black light. In addition to his work as a physicist and engineer, he has published several works of genre fiction.