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PRIVATE PARANORMAL INVESTIGATORS


​GHOST INVESTIGATION TEAM

It’s only in the past few years that the mass production of thermal imaging technologies has reached a point where handheld thermographic cameras (also known as heat cameras, thermal detection or infrared cameras) are now an accessible option for most civil applications and/or hobbyist use.

However, viewing heat energy as an infrared spectrum display isn’t actually a new concept by any means; in fact, the roots of the basic thermography principle were established more than 200 years ago by the German-British astronomer William Herschel:



  • In simplified terms, Herschel was the first to discover the presence of infrared, all the way back in February 1800, while using a prism to study the visible light spectrum
  • Herschel found he could place a thermometer just beyond the red light end of the spectrum to detect the existence of a hitherto unknown invisible band, warmer than any of those in visible light
  • Today, we refer to this invisible band as ‘infrared’ radiation, which lies between visible light and microwave frequencies on the electromagnetic spectrum

Although thermal imaging camcorders were still a long way off, Herschel’s findings were quickly used to produce a number of early thermocouple-type modules, which could detect the unseen heat emanating from warm bodies at a considerable distance.

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His initial discovery was further developed by many other physicists, engineers, and inventors in subsequent years:


  • ​​Especially important to the development of the thermal imaging technologies we use today was the work of Hungarian polymath Kálmán Tihanyi (also responsible for pioneering cathode-ray TV technology)
  • In 1929, Tihanyi effectively created the first ‘night vision’ infrared video cameras for use in British anti-aircraft defences
  • During the 1970s, the technology rapidly moved towards solid-state thermal-imaging arrays, and eventually on to modern hybridised single-crystal-slice imaging devices
  • Handled units developed through the 1980s and 1990s were far more versatile, user-friendly, and didn’t require active cooling to work, unlike early mechanical versions
  • Still, thermal imaging cameras didn’t really become a financially viable option for most civil uses until the early 2000s, which saw dramatic reductions in the production costs of uncooled arrays
  • This led to a boom in the popularity of heat camera use for applications such as emergency response, architecture analysis, medical diagnostics, environmental control, and autopiloting systems.



​​Today, the plummeting cost of cutting-edge technologies like smart sensors, microcircuitry, and WiFi connectivity make thermal imaging digital cameras a popular addition to many professional and household engineering, repair, design, creative, PARANORMAL and hobbyist toolkits.

THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

Chapters for Thermal Imaging.



  1. What is Thermal Imaging?
  2. Misconceptions of Thermal Imaging use.
  3. ​How do Thermal Imaging Cameras Work?