science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

stories or

superhero comics Superhero comics is one of the most common genres of American comic books. The genre rose to prominence in the 1930s and became extremely popular in the 1940s and has remained the dominant form of comic book in North America since the 1960s. Supe ...

, X-ray vision is the supernatural ability to see through normally opaque physical objects at the discretion of the holder of this superpower. The most famous possessor of this ability is

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

' iconic superhero character,

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

In fiction

Among the best known figures with "x-ray vision" are the fictional

, and the protagonist of the 1963 film '' X''. The first person with X-ray vision in a comic book was Olga Mesmer in 1937's ''Spicy Mysteries''. She is often considered to be one of the first

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

es. In myth,

Lynceus In Greek mythology, Lynceus (; Ancient Greek: Λυγκεύς "lynx-eyed") may refer to the following personages. * Lynceus, one of the 50 Sons of Aegyptus. * Lynceus, king in Thrace and husband of Lathusa, friend of Procne. Tereus gave Philomel ...

of the

Argonauts The Argonauts ( ; ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'', named after it ...

possessed a similar ability. Although called X-ray vision, this power has little to do with the actual effect of

X-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

s. Instead, it is usually presented as the ability to selectively see through certain objects as though they are invisible or transparent in order to see objects or surfaces beyond or deep inside the affected object or material. Thus, Superman can see through walls to see the criminals beyond, or see through Lois Lane's dress to determine the color of her underwear (in '' Superman: The Movie'', Warner Brothers, 1978). In such cases, the visions seen are generally in full color and in three dimensions. How such an effect might be created via x-rays is unexplained (the x-rays from the viewer's eyes would need to bounce back to their eyes the same way normal light reflects off objects and into the viewer's eyes: x-rays simply pass through an object and continue on their way. X-ray films are made as x-rays pass through an object and then through the x-ray film. The images seen on x-ray film are "shadows" of the objects the x-rays passed through on their way to the film). As depicted, x-ray vision is actually more of a form of the supposed psychic ability of

remote viewing Remote viewing (RV) is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen subject, purportedly sensing with the mind. There is no scientific evidence that remote viewing exists, and the topic of remote viewing is generally regarde ...

In reality

X-rays An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

have many practical uses for

scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

medical Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

imaging. Security agencies are experimenting with applications of imaging devices which can "see" through clothing (using terahertz waves). Such devices are being deployed in some airports as a way of detecting

contraband Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") is any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It comprises goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes of the leg ...

, such as guns, knives, and any other weapons in particular which may be carried beneath a person's clothing, bag, etc. The devices have created some degree of controversy from personal privacy advocates who worry about screeners being able to see people "naked." There also exist certain night-vision equipped cameras that can be modified to see through clothing at a frequency just below visible light. Such imaging is not true x-ray vision, but rather shows variations in heat radiation rising from the skin beneath the clothing which can provide some detail of the body beneath. In comic books in the latter half of the 20th century, there often appeared an advertisement for " X-ray specs" which displayed the face of a smiling boy wearing glasses with spirals on the lenses looking at his hand through which he could see the bones. While X-rays cannot be used in practice to enable seeing objects through walls, researchers have recently shown how everyday wireless signals, such as wi-fi, can be used to achieve x-ray vision.Y. Mostofi and P. Sen
"Compressive Cooperative Sensing and Mapping in Mobile Networks"
American Control Conference, pages 3397-3404, June 2009.Y. Mostofi
"Cooperative Wireless-Based Obstacle/Object Mapping and See-Through Capabilities in Robotic Networks"
IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, DOI: 10.1109/TMC.2012.32, January 2012.A. Banerjee, D. Maas, M. Bocca, N. Patwari, and S. K. Kasera
"Through Wall People Localization Exploiting Radio Windows"
arXiv:1307.7233, submitted 27 July 2013.J. Wilson and N. Patwar
"Through-Wall Tracking Using Variance-Based Radio Tomography Networks"
Sep 2009Fadel Adib and Dina Katabi
"See Through Walls with WiFi!"
ACM SIGCOMM, Hong Kong, August 2013.Qifan Pu, Sidhant Gupta, Shyamnath Gollakota and Shwetak Patel
"Whole-Home Gesture Recognition Using Wireless Signals"
ACM MOBICOM, October 2013.Fadel Adib, ChenYu Hsu, Hongzi Mao, Dina Katabi and Fredo Durand
"Capturing the Human Figure Through a Wall"
ACM SIGGRAPH Asia, November 2015.Donny Huang, Rajalakshmi Nandakumar, and Shyamnath Gollakota
"Feasibility and Limits of Wi-Fi Imaging"
ACM SenSys, November 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:X-Ray Vision Fictional superhuman abilities Fiction about X-ray vision

In fiction

In reality

See also

References