Kirlian photography

noun

Kir·​li·​an photography ˈkir-lē-ən- 

: a process in which an image is obtained by application of a high-frequency electric field to an object so that it radiates a characteristic pattern of luminescence that is recorded on photographic film

Kirlian photograph noun

Examples of Kirlian photography in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Someone came in with a Kirlian photography machine, which produced something like aura photography. —Julia Halperin, New York Times, 16 May 2024

Lawrence played with Kirlian photography, attended a parapsychology conference, and traveled around the country meeting witches, psychics, and other purveyors of the paranormal. —IEEE Spectrum, 21 Mar. 2017

The technique used to capture this electrical flow is called Kirlian photography, named after the Russian electrical engineer Semyon Kirlian who discovered that if an object on a photographic plate is connected to a high-voltage source, an image is produced on the photographic plate. —Discover Magazine, 10 Jan. 2013

Word History

Etymology

Semën D. Kirlian †1978 and Valentina Kh. Kirlian †1971 Soviet inventors

First Known Use

1972, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Kirlian photography

• echocardiography
• electromyography
• paleogeography
• angiocardiography
• electrocardiography
• arteriography
• autobiography
• biogeography
• cholangiography
• cinematography
• historiography
• photolithography