According to Nandor Fodor in Encyclopedia Of Psychic Science (1966), the most enlightening scientific research on the human aura was done by Dr. Walter J. Kilner (1847-1920) of Saint Thomas Hospital of London. A dicyanin screen was enclosed which rendered the aura visible to normal sight. The screen was a solution of coal-tar dye between two hermetically sealed pieces of glass. Turning the eye on a naked man in dim light before a dark background, three distinct radiations, all lying in the ultraviolet end of the spectrum, became visible. The first was dark and colorless, and surrounded the body about one quarter to one half an inch out from the physical body. The second extended three inches beyond, and the third was almost one foot in depth.

Kilner tried several experiments. The aura was influenced by magnets and electricity. According to Nandor Fodor in Encyclopedia Of Psychic Science (1966), Kilner reported, "When negative currents were introduced, nearby, the aura went to the extent of completely vanishing under a negative charge...and increasing to an additional 50 % after the charge dissipates. It also was affected by vapors from various chemicals." Illness affected both its size and color. He also claimed that the aura was affected by an effort of will, that it could be projected to a longer distance form the body and change its colors. Mental impairment caused a diminishing in its size and distinction. Nervous diseases showed quite observable imbalances. The auras of different people showed attraction and interaction with each other, blending and becoming more intense. From this, Dr. Kilner concluded that the higher brain centers are intimately concerned in the output of auric force. He also noticed that the aura shrinks near the time of death, and that no aura whatsoever existed once the person had expired.

In the Encyclopedia Of Psychic Science (1966) Nandor Fodor continues to list other scientific studies. He refers to a forgotten and out of print book called Ten Years With Spiritual Mediums (1874) published by Francis Gerry Fairfield. Fairfield claims, "All organic structures have a special form of nerve-aura... Observation and experiments seem to indicate that the nerve-aura is material,an imponderable nervous ether... susceptible to the will of the operator, and capable of sensory impression..." Nandor Fodor notes that Morselli, Flournoy, Geley and Carrington have arrived at the same conclusion, that there is an "exteriorization of the nervous system energy."

Dr. Seymon Davidovich Kirlian made another amazing invention which revealed the human aura. It is called Kirlian photography. This is discussed in a lengthy chapter by Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder in Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain (1973). Kirlian created a machine that uses a high frequency electrical field that generates 75,000 to 200,000 electrical oscillations per second. The object to be investigated (finger, leaf, etc.) is inserted between the clamps along with photo paper. The generator is turned on and a high frequency field which is created between the clamps causes the object to radiate some sort of bio-luminescence onto photo paper. A camera is not used.

This discovery was of great interest to many in all sorts of fields of science. According to Kirlian, different details show up in the photographs of bio-luminescence, depending on the dominant frequency. Experiments were done on leaves, photographing them in all different phases of health. Interestingly, different colors denoted illness or disease in the different samples of leaves, and even when a piece of the leaf was torn off, the aura was still there even though the piece was gone. According to Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder in Psychic Discoveries Behind The Iron Curtain ( 1973) "The Kirlian window on the unknown might revolutionize our entire concept of ourselves and our universe. It seems [Kirlian and his wife] had discovered far more than the aura."

I mention these scientific discoveries, but there are many more in which the human field has been tested and determined to be "real." I focused on these discoveries because they are actual instruments for seeing the human aura with the naked eye. I believe that a "Doubting Thomas" could be most easily convinced of the existence of the aura by sciences that make the aura visible to the naked eye, like the dicyanin screen.