Kirlian photography

American  

[keer-lee-uhn] / ˈkɪər li ən /

noun

1. a photographic process that supposedly records electrical discharges naturally emanating from living objects, producing an auralike glow surrounding the object on a photographic plate or film with which the object is in direct contact.

---

Kirlian photography British  

/ ˈkɜːlɪən /

noun

1. a process that is said to record directly on photographic film the field radiation of electricity emitted by an object to which an electric charge has been applied

---

Etymology

Origin of Kirlian photography

1970–75; after Semyon D. and Valentina K. Kirlian, Russian technicians who developed the process

Example Sentences

According to the Times, she and Lowe plan to use techniques associated with Kirlian photography, or electrophotography, in which images are produced by a high-voltage power source.

From The Verge • Apr. 6, 2018

What results is something like a chamber-music equivalent of Kirlian photography: dark, shadowy and indistinct at its core, surrounded by an iridescent glow.

From New York Times • Jun. 18, 2010

Thelma Moss of U.C.L.A.'s Neuropsychiatric Institute is using Kirlian photography, a supersensitive technique developed by Russian scientists to record the electrical field, or "aura," that surrounds humans, animals and even plants.

From Time Magazine Archive

For Moss, the message is that Kirlian photography clearly demonstrates a human aura.

From Time Magazine Archive

Still another program showed pictures made by a process called Kirlian photography and explained that they showed the psychic "auras" of people and plants.

From Time Magazine Archive