THAUMATROPE

A thaumatrope is a toy that was
popular in
Victorian times. A disk or card with
a picture on
each side is attached to two pieces
of string.
When the strings are twirled
quickly between the
fingers the two pictures appear to
combine into
a single image due to the phi
phenomenon and
persistence of vision .
Examples of common thaumatrope
pictures
include a bare tree on one side of
the disk, and
its leaves on the other, or a bird
on one side
and a cage on the other. They
often also
included riddles or short poems,
with one line
on each side. Thaumatropes were
one of a
number of simple, mechanical
optical toys that
used persistence of vision. They
are recognised
as important antecedents of
cinematography
and in particular of animation.
The coined name translates roughly
as "wonder
turner", from Ancient Greek :
θαῦμα "wonder" and
τρόπος "turn".
The invention of the thaumatrope
is usually
credited to either John Ayrton Paris
or Peter
Mark Roget . Paris used one to
demonstrate persistence of vision
to the Royal
College of Physicians in London in
1824 .He based his invention
on ideas of the astronomer John
Herschel and
the geologist William Henry Fitton ,
and some
sources attribute the actual
invention to Fitton
rather than Paris. Charles Babbage
reported
being introduced to the concept by
Herschel
and Fitton
In 2012, it was reported that a
prehistoric
thaumatrope had been discovered
in caves in
France, particularly the Chauvet
Caves.
Thaumatropes in popular culture
In the film The Prestige , Michael
Caine's
character repeatedly uses a
thaumatrope as a
way of explaining persistence of
vision.
In the Martin Scorsese film Hugo ,
the final scene
begins in the middle of a
conversation about
cinema precursors, including the
thaumatrope