7 Jun 2024

Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak

From Sci Fi / Sci Fact, 5:00 am on 7 June 2024
Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 2001. 
Collection Christophel © Warner Bros. / Heyday Films

Photo: © Warner Bros / Heyday Films

The invisibility cloak Harry Potter inherited from his father was a feature of all seven books in the series.

It enabled the young wizard to sneak around Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and evade the evil magician Lord Voldemort.

It's easy to think of ways we could use invisibility cloaks in real life, but could current science make one? Colm Healy, MacDiarmid Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Canterbury talks us through the magic of materials science.

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