# Troy Hurtubise invents x-ray vision? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2005, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troy-hurtubise-invents-x-ray-vision/285519 "2005-01-19T10:15:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tadc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@tadc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadc)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troy-hurtubise-invents-x-ray-vision/285519/1 "2005-01-19T10:15:53Z")
Many of you are probably familiar with Troy Hurtubise, inventor of [fire paste](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=267322&highlight=Hurtubise) and [the bear proof suit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=125785&highlight=Hurtubise) . Now he is claiming to have invented something called Angel Light, that allows you to [see through walls](http://www.baytoday.ca/content/news/details.asp?c=6657). Anybody believe it? Arguements as to why it’s impossible? General commentary? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troy-hurtubise-invents-x-ray-vision/285519/2 "2005-01-19T10:37:47Z")
Dunno; it sounds just a little far-fetched to me. I’m also a bit unsure as to _how_ the image is viewed; if it’s a magic ray that you just shine on something and it becomes transparent, then my bullshit meter will be jammed in the red, but if the image appears on that big glass disc, then it’s a tiny bit more plausible and could be something akin to an x-ray imaging machine that works by reflection instead of transmission. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troy-hurtubise-invents-x-ray-vision/285519/3 "2005-01-19T10:40:08Z")
Off the top of my head, this sounds like unmitigated bullshit and the inventor sounds like a crackpot or scam artist. The article is an uncritical puff piece with no real technical detail, just a few paragraphs of gibberish. Nowhere is there any information that would suggest this guy isn’t pulling this stuff out of his ass. [Gary Dryfoos](http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/) is a real guy and he is at MIT, but he seems like more of a joker than anything else. He is involved in the [Annals of Improbable Research](http://www.improb.com/navstrip/about.html), the group that reported on Troy’s [Bear-Proof Suit](http://www.improb.com/news/2001/nov/troy-bear2.html). In short, this sounds like a hoax, and the paper got taken for a ride. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troy-hurtubise-invents-x-ray-vision/285519/4 "2005-01-19T14:11:31Z")
There’s a lot of “he says” in the article, but a surprising lack of “he turned it on and this reporter saw for his/her self”. ---
**Author:** ![tadc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@tadc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadc)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troy-hurtubise-invents-x-ray-vision/285519/5 "2005-01-19T22:16:52Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Dunno; it sounds just a little far-fetched to me. I’m also a bit unsure as to _how_ the image is viewed; if it’s a magic ray that you just shine on something and it becomes transparent, then my bullshit meter will be jammed in the red, but if the image appears on that big glass disc, then it’s a tiny bit more plausible and could be something akin to an x-ray imaging machine that works by reflection instead of transmission. Yes, more than just a little far-fetched. I get the impression that he enjoyed all the attention he got with the bear suit and such, and maybe came up with a way to extend that attention. I also had a hard time determining whether it magically made things transparent, or had a screen or viewer or some sort. This talk of “superwideband” technology gives it the slightest air of possible genuine functionality, but, it still seems pretty far fetched. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troy-hurtubise-invents-x-ray-vision/285519/6 "2005-01-20T00:16:25Z")
What part of the electromagnetic spectrum is he working in. You’d need something like very powerful gamma rays to see through lead, as he claims he can do. I don’t buy that the Gamma rays (or whatever) will pass through a wall, bounce off whatever is inside, then pass back through the wall and interact with a detector. I don’t see how this is possible, given the well known properties of electromagnetic radiation. Of course IANA physicist, so I await correction from anyone here who is. Also, let’s look at the Gary Dryfoos quote: > [@](#): > > Gary Dryfoos, a consultant and former long-time instructor at MIT, said “there’s a Nobel Prize” for Hurtubise if the Angel Light really performs as described. > > “There are laws of physics waiting to be written for what he’s talking about,” Dryfoos said. Note the presence of the word “if.” Yes there would be nobel prizes and re-workings of the laws of physics _if_ the thing worked. You could say the same thing about homeopathy and free-energy devices. The thing reeks of scam, and it appears the reporter is either a dupe or a co-scammer. If he has in fact gotten businesses interested in this, (which I doubt), there should be some interesting shareholder meetings in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troy-hurtubise-invents-x-ray-vision/285519/7 "2005-01-20T01:13:53Z")
> [@](#): > > “I turned the beam on it and within minutes all the goldfish died,” Hurtubise said. Sometimes they just write themselves, folks! ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/troy-hurtubise-invents-x-ray-vision/285519/8 "2005-01-20T01:17:54Z")
> [@Phnord Prephect](#): > > Sometimes they just write themselves, folks! So it’s not just weird-ass x-ray machine, it’s a… …wait for it… …here it comes… A 00s-style Death Ray!