Identify and connect:

Cracked by: varuns88 , Dibyo , sidsen , RajT , Tathagata Chatterjee , sandesh , Prasad , Keerthi Kiran M , yaksha , shashank and BiGFooT.

Answer:  (1) is a depiction of the legend that Archimedes used giant reflectors to construct a heat ray and burn ships with it from a distance. Many scientists doubted the veracity of this and one, Ionis Sakkas, took it upon himself to check whether it is possible. (2) is a photo of his attempt.

The connect, of course, is Heat Rays Of Death ™