Real time non-intrusive diagnostics of thermal gradients around a single vapor bubble in isolated nucleate pool boiling with water as the working fluid have been presented. Direct visualization of transient evolution of temperature gradients in the vicinity of the heated substrate and around the single bubble as it undergoes various sub-processes has been performed using rainbow schlieren deflectometry. Boiling experiments have been conducted under saturated conditions. Results have been presented in the form of two-dimensional rainbow schlieren images wherein the degree of color re-distribution gives a direct measure of the strength of thermal gradients. Through the real time experimental images, various sub-processes/phenomena associated with boiling heat transfer such as development of superheat layer in the vicinity of the heated substrate, inception and further growth of the vapor bubble followed by scavenging of the superheat layer as the vapor bubble departs into the bulk fluid have been discussed. The profiles of hue distribution near the triple contact line brought out the presence of near stagnant fluid zone in which the heat transfer phenomenon was seen to be primarily diffusion-dominated. Beyond this narrow region, significant bulk fluid movement was observed on the basis of the spatial distributions of hue values recorded in the form of real time schlieren images. The experiments further revealed an instantaneous localized bending of the superheat layer as the bubble leaves the heater surface and subsequent shedding of the wake vortices from the edges of the departing bubble as it moves upwards in the bulk fluid. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.