THE INSPIRATION FOR THE NEW MAJOR MOTION PICTURE! The Invisible Man is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells. The Invisible Man to whom the title refers is Griffin, a scientist who has devoted himself to research into optics and who invents a way to change a body's refractive index to that of air so that it neither absorbs nor reflects light. He carries out this procedure on himself and renders himself invisible, but fails in his attempt to reverse it. A practitioner of random and irresponsible violence, Griffin has become an iconic character in horror fiction. The novel is considered influential, and helped establish Wells as the ""father of science fiction"".