--- title: This Discovery Brings Us Closer to Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak description: It's like a very small invisibility cloak made of glass canonical: https://time.com/3441875/invisibility-cloak-harry-potter-lens-rochester/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-28T15:19:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:08.196Z article:section: Science og:title: This Discovery Brings Us Closer to Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak og:description: It's like a very small invisibility cloak made of glass og:url: https://time.com/3441875/invisibility-cloak-harry-potter-lens-rochester/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bbaabd641c72a87/6986a5bee8524b25c2604f1d/invisibility-cloak.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Handout photo of cloaking device using four lenses developed by University of Rochester physics professor Howell and graduate student Choi is demonstrated in Rochester og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Discovery Brings Us Closer to Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak twitter:description: It's like a very small invisibility cloak made of glass twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bbaabd641c72a87/6986a5bee8524b25c2604f1d/invisibility-cloak.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Discovery Brings Us One Step Closer to Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=a711d467-6631-499c-b1d2-c6c7686b1ce1&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How Does Cloaking Work in the Real World [Watch (HLS stream): How Does Cloaking Work in the Real World](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DDUmflux.m3u8) (1:00)  _Published 2014-09-28. How Does Cloaking Work in the Real World_ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Sep 28, 2014 3:19 PM UTC  A cloaking device using four lenses developed by University of Rochester physics professor John Howell and graduate student Joseph Choi is demonstrated in Rochester, New York on Sept. 11, 2014. A cloaking device using four lenses developed by University of Rochester physics professor John Howell and graduate student Joseph Choi is demonstrated in Rochester, New York on Sept. 11, 2014. Reuters by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Sep 28, 2014 3:19 PM UTC Researchers at the [University of Rochester](http://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/watch-rochester-cloak-uses-ordinary-lenses-to-hide-objects-across-continuous-range-of-angles-70592/) seem to be taking the words of science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke’s to heart: “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Inspired in part by the famous Invisibility Cloak from Harry Potter, [scientists at Rochester](http://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/watch-rochester-cloak-uses-ordinary-lenses-to-hide-objects-across-continuous-range-of-angles-70592/) have discovered new ways to use complex lenses to hide objects from view. While previous cloaking devices distort the background and make it apparent that an object is being cloaked, the four lenses used at Rochester keep an object hidden as the viewer moves up to several degrees away. “This is the first device that we know of that can do three-dimensional, continuously multidirectional cloaking, which works for transmitting rays in the visible spectrum,” said Joseph Choi, a PhD student at Rochester’s Institute of Optics who is working with physics professor John Howell at the university. While the lenses do truly disguise the image of an object, scientists aren’t claiming a suit-sized version of the lens will work, much less help its wearers sneak past Death Eaters or into a Room of Requirement. But there are practical uses for the technology: Howell says that the lenses could help a surgeon “look through his hands to what he is actually operating on,” and the lenses could be applied to a truck to allow drivers to see through blind spots on their vehicles. Here’s a video that shows in more detail how the lenses work: ## Transcript [00:47] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3441875/invisibility-cloak-harry-potter-lens-rochester/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3441875/invisibility-cloak-harry-potter-lens-rochester/"},"headline":"This Discovery Brings Us One Step Closer to Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak","datePublished":"2014-09-28T15:19:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:08.196Z","description":"It's like a very small invisibility cloak made of glass","url":"https://time.com/3441875/invisibility-cloak-harry-potter-lens-rochester/","keywords":["Physics","Newsfeed"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bbaabd641c72a87/6986a5bee8524b25c2604f1d/invisibility-cloak.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bbaabd641c72a87/6986a5bee8524b25c2604f1d/invisibility-cloak.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Handout photo of cloaking device using four lenses developed by University of Rochester physics professor Howell and graduate student Choi is demonstrated in Rochester","caption":"Handout photo of cloaking device using four lenses developed by University of Rochester physics professor Howell and graduate student Choi is demonstrated in Rochester","creditText":"Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/physics/","name":"Physics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3441875/invisibility-cloak-harry-potter-lens-rochester/","name":"This Discovery Brings Us One Step Closer to Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Does Cloaking Work in the Real World","description":"How Does Cloaking Work in the Real World","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DDUmflux/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-28T14:47:31.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DDUmflux.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3441875/invisibility-cloak-harry-potter-lens-rochester/","duration":"PT1M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3441875/invisibility-cloak-harry-potter-lens-rochester/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```