Thaumatrope

A thaumatrop ( Greek thauma "miracle", trope "twist": miracle disk) consists of a disk with two threads that are attached to the edge of the disk at two opposite points. The disc is mostly made of cardboard, but materials such as plastic are also used as the disc. By twisting the threads and then pulling on their ends, the disc is set in rotation around the axis of the two threads. In the eye of the beholder, the images merge on both sides of the rotating disk - an optical illusion . The thaumatrope was first introduced by John Ayrton Paris in 1827 , but its invention is attributed to the geologist William Henry Fitton (around 1825).

A cage is often depicted on the one hand and a bird on the other. The optical illusion looks like the bird is in the cage. If the two disks of a thaumatropic have different colors, the mixed color becomes visible during rotation (thaumatropic mixed color).

More than 15,000 years ago, small stone and bone disks were made with different animal images depicted on both sides. A slate plate found in 1991 in the Isturitz cave (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) shows a reindeer, once standing, once sitting. If the disk is rotated in the correct way, the animal appears to lie down and stand up alternately.

Timetable

from 1600: Flip book - flip book with individual images
from 1671: Laterna magica - magic lantern: early device for image projection
from 1825: Thaumatrop - miracle disc with two threads
from 1830: Phenakistiskop - phantascope, miracle wheel or wheel of life

from 1832: stroboscope - magic disks: flash unit

from 1834: Zoetrop - miracle drum with slots

from 1861: Mutoskop - stereo animation sheets per stroboscope

from 1877: Praxinoscope - electrical high-speed viewer using a mirror arrangement

from 1879: Zoopraxiskop - projection device for chronophotographically generated serial images

from 1880: Kaiserpanorama - popular mass medium with stereoscopic picture series

from 1886: Electrotachyscope - projection device for row images

from 1891: Kinetoskop - first film viewer

Web links

Commons : Thaumatrope - Images and Media Files

JP Mascarella: Simulation of a thaumatrope. In: assassindrake.com. Retrieved May 26, 2018 (graphic example).
Thaumatrope. In: courses.ncssm.edu. Accessed on May 26, 2018 (information and demonstration, English).

Individual evidence

^ Marc Azéma: Palaeoarchaeology: Cave cinema in the Ice Age. In spectrum of science. March 15, 2013, accessed on September 15, 2018, quote: “Even our ancestors from the Stone Age tried to capture movement in pictures. More than 30,000 years ago, they used light effects and the peculiarities of our visual sense to depict wild animals: how they hunt, flee or attack. With appropriate lighting, the images actually seem to come to life. "

[1] Marc Azéma: Palaeoarchaeology: Cave cinema in the Ice Age. In spectrum of science. March 15, 2013, accessed on September 15, 2018, quote: “Even our ancestors from the Stone Age tried to capture movement in pictures. More than 30,000 years ago, they used light effects and the peculiarities of our visual sense to depict wild animals: how they hunt, flee or attack. With appropriate lighting, the images actually seem to come to life. "