science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

stories or

superhero comics Superhero comics are 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. Su ...

, 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, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

' iconic superhero character,

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

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 Olga Mesmer is a superpowered fictional character in a pulp magazine's comic strip published from 1937 to 1938. Like the newspaper comic-strip character Popeye (1929) and novelist Philip Wylie's protagonist Hugo Danner (1930), she is among the pr ...

in 1937's ''Spicy Mysteries''. She is often considered to be one of the first

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

es. In myth,

Lynceus In Greek mythology, Lynceus (; grc, Λυγκεύς, Lynkeús, lynx-eyed) was a king of Argos, succeeding Danaus on the throne. Family Lynceus was named as a descendant of Belus through his father Aegyptus, who was the twin brother of Danau ...

of the

Argonauts The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) 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'', ...

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, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

s. Instead, it is usually presented as the ability to selectively see through certain objects as though they are invisible or translucent 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 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

, 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 film X-ray detectors are devices used to measure the flux, spatial distribution, spectrum, and/or other properties of X-rays. Detectors can be divided into two major categories: imaging detectors (such as photographic plates and X-ray film ( photog ...

s 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. Typically a remote viewer is expected to give information about an object, event, person or location that is hidden ...

In reality

X-rays An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 Picometre, picometers to 10 Nanometre, nanometers, corresponding to frequency, ...

have many practical uses for

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

and

medical Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

imaging. Security agencies are experimenting with applications of imaging devices which can "see" through clothing (using

terahertz wave Terahertz radiation – also known as submillimeter radiation, terahertz waves, tremendously high frequency (THF), T-rays, T-waves, T-light, T-lux or THz – consists of electromagnetic waves within the International Telecommunicat ...

s). Such devices are being deployed in some airports as a way of detecting

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

, 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 X-ray specs or X-ray glasses are an American novelty item, purported to allow users to see through or into solid objects. In reality, the spectacles merely create an optical illusion; no X-rays are involved. The current paper version is sold und ...

" 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 features or abilities Fiction about X-ray vision

In fiction

In reality

See also

References