Scientists may have developed a time cloak that makes the tiniest of events disappear, but in some cases, famous people already beat the researchers to the punch.

Researchers at Cornell University masked an event that lasted only a fraction of time - 40 trillionths of a second in a study appeared Thursday in the journal Nature.

Unlike visual cloaks that move light away from a source, the scientists created a hole by tinkering with the speed of beams of light.

Unlike the blink-of-an-eye experiment, some disappearances of people have left people wondering for decades what happened.

Many famous people have disappeared not because of the bending of light or stopping of light, but have left even greater mysteries of their whereabouts or fate.

1. Amelia Earhart (1937)

Amelia Earhart, American aviator, adventurer and author, disappeared July 2, 1937 in the South Pacific during an attempt to circumnavigate the world. She and her fellow navigator Fred Noonan were last located near Howland Island. In the decades since, no one has heard from either.

2. Jimmy Hoffa (1975)

The U.S. union boss vanished on July 30, 1975 on his way to meet two other bosses, from the Mafia. Conspiracy theories abound as to his fate and legend has it that his resting place was under the Giants Stadium that was demolished in 2010. No body was found during the demolition.

3. Glenn Miller (1944)

The big-band leader disappeared on Dec. 15, 1944 on a plane traveling from England to France to celebrate the liberation of Paris with the troops. Icy conditions or enemy fire may have caused the plane to go down, but neither is known.

4. Frank Morris (1962)

The notorious American criminal escaped from Alcatraz, a prison off the coast of San Franscisco on June 11, 1962. He has never been heard from since. His scheme included creating a dummy head by his pillow so guards would think he was sleeping while he escaped off the island.

5. Harold Holt (1967)

The Australian Prime Minister ended his term short when he vanished Dec. 17, 1967 while swimming near Victoria. He had been Prime Minister for 22 months and became best known for his role in expanding the Australian army's role in the Vietnam War.

6. USS Cyclops (1918)

The legend of the Burmuda Triangle that swallows up voyagers came from the disappearance of this U.S. Navy ship and its crew of 306, who vanished after March 4, 1918 and were never heard of again. The ship, loaded with manganese for munitions, set out from Barbados en route to Baltimore, Md., but never made its dock. Many theories exist for its disappearance including its overloaded condition, a cracked engine and treacherous weather.

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