Invisibility in Popular Culture

Long before Duke scientists made headlines with their light-bending device, the possibilities and perils of being invisible had been explored in everything from ancient myths to modern-day books and movies. Here are ten of the better-known examples:

The Tarnkappe
In early Germanic mythology, the warrior Siegfried battles the dwarf king Alberich and takes a cloak called the Tarnkappe that not only grants invisibility but also makes its wearer as strong as twelve men.

The Invisible Man
In H.G. Wells’ famous novel, the brilliant medical student Griffin succeeds in making himself invisible, but finds that the effect is irreversible. Griffin goes mad, commits murder, and is eventually killed himself.

Philadelphia Experiment
The Philadelphia Experiment is an alleged U.S. Navy venture that was performed October 28, 1943. According to the legend, the destroyer USS Eldridge was made invisible and teleported from Philadelphia to Norfolk, Virginia, and back again.

The One Ring
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic work The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins acquires a magic gold ring that makes its wearers invisible but, as the creature Gollum illustrates, also corrupts them. In the famous trilogy that followed, The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien reveals that the Dark Lord Sauron forged the ring, which has vast power and can control the wearers of the other rings in Middle Earth.

Invisible Woman
In The Fantastic Four comics, Susan Richards gains the ability to bend light without distortion after being exposed to cosmic rays during a science mission in space. Her new power enables her to render herself, and the people and things around her, invisible and to erect invisible force fields.

Cloaked Romulan Ships
In the fictional Star Trek television universe, “bird-of-prey” starships created by a race of aliens called the Romulan use a cloaking technology that can elude even the most sophisticated tracking sensors.

The SEP Field
In Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, aliens have developed an alternative, cheaper form of invisibility called the Somebody Else’s Problem (SEP) field. Anything cloaked by the SEP field is transformed into “somebody else’s problem,” thus becoming essentially undetectable.

Predator
In the 1987 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, an alien that comes to Earth to hunt humans uses a camouflage device that allows it to blend in with its surroundings. The effect is almost perfect, but a heat wavelike shimmer gives away the alien’s presence, especially when it is moving.

Harry Potter
In the books by J.K. Rowling, Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore gives Harry an invisibility cloak that once belonged to his late father. The cloak, said to be transparent and to shimmer like rippling water, proves invaluable to the boy wizard in his adventures.

James Bond
In the 2002 movie Die Another Day, Bond’s gadget wizard, Q, makes an Aston Martin V-12 Vanquish effectively invisible by covering its surface with micro-cameras that project images recorded on one side of the car onto the other side.