I was just watching a documentary on soldiers who witnessed atomic bombs from only a couple of km’s away and all of them reported that even with their eyes closed, they could see an X-Ray of their bones.
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Source: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FokopVKMgdU&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=TheNewYorkTimes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FokopVKMgdU&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=TheNewYorkTimes)
In: Physics
Medical physicist here (physicist dealing with radiology, radiation, etc):
So, there is *no proof* that this phenomenon actually occurs. If you shine something very bright against your fingers, you will see that the periphery of your fingers will be brighter than the middle part. This is *not* because bone is in the way. Rather, there is just more material in general in the way. When visible light hits human tissue, it immediately scatters in all directions. No matter how intense the light is, the relative percentage of scattered light versus unscattered light, will not change. Visible light simply cannot penetrate deep enough into human tissue to form images of bone.
So it is physically impossible to see bones using visible light. More likely, the soldiers reported seeing their bones just saw the same phenomenon anyone can see shining a torch through their fingers (i.e. not bone). Since it’s all based on witness reports, it makes sense that it has been misinterpreted.
If we could use visible light to see bones, we would not need dangerous x-ray machines.
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