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Future Invisibility is Not Too Far Away

Invisibility is an optical illusion that the person or object is not there. A theoretical physicist at St. Andrews University in Scotland, Dr. Ulf Leonhardt, is positive that in the future invisibility would exist not only in science fiction novels, but in real life as well. He believes, however, that it`s unlikely to occur by wearing a special cloak, like Harry Potter, for example, or by swallowing a pill, like H.G. Wells` Invisible Man.

The most plausible example, according to Leonhardt, is the Invisible Woman, one of the Marvel Comics superheroes in the "Fantastic Four"., because she "guides light around her using a force field", which is the closest thing to what would be able to be done in future. Devices that will create invisibility exist now only in theory. However, scientists are making advances in metamaterials - artificial materials with unusual properties that could be used to make invisibility devices.

These devices could be used for instance to protect electronic equipment from the radiation emitted from mobile phones. "It is very likely that the demonstration for radar would come first and very soon. To go into the visual will take some time, but it is also not so far off," Leonhardt said.