See the first shaping technology

This device allows the ancients to "watch movies" even when the film has not been invented yet.

Equipment to create the first "dancing image" of humankind

You must be familiar with photos with GIF format (Graphics Interchange format ), or "animation" for short.

But did you know, the first animated pictures were actually born more than 180 years ago with a special device - the phenakistoscope plate . By using visual illusions, this disc has allowed us to "watch movies" right at the time when the film has not yet appeared.

Phenakistoscope is a disc invented by Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau - based on the "visual inertia " theory - Persistence of Vision principle.

In theory, "visual inertia" is a type of visual illusion that occurs because the human eye does not receive visual information.When many discrete images are included in a fast-moving frame, we will think that the picture is moving.

The theory of "visual inertia" was soon discovered from ancient Greece by the eminent mathematician Euclid, then given in an experiment of Newton in the seventeenth century.

However, it was not until 1829 that this phenomenon was confirmed by the Josph Plateau.Three years later, he built the Phenakistoscope.

This disc is designed to be rotatable.Around the center of the disk are equally spaced drawings, divided by gaps.The drawings represent a series of consecutive actions.

Viewers will see the reflection in the mirror through the gap to see moving images.The slits act as a shutter, causing the image to be cut.However, due to the fast rotating speed of the disc, our eyes have received images from static to dynamic.

The phenakistoscope was famous all over Europe in the mid-nineteenth century - before the invention of the camera for nearly a century.This means, the old people have been "watching movies" since before the film was invented.

The theory of "visual inertia" was later applied in the film industry.The first movies are about 16 frames per second (16 frames per second).

The following video will give you a better view of the phenakistoscope discs - a tool that helps us watch movies from the moment the movie is not available.