OUAN05 - Understanding - Thaumatrope (1824)

The Thaumatrope

The 'thaumatrope' was first introduced in the early 19th century and became a popular toy or entertainment device during this time. The term 'thaumatrope' comes from the Greek words that translate to mean, 'wonder turner', which is quite self explanatory when looking at the function and way that the thaumatrope operates via a turn mechanism. The credit for who invented the thaumatrope is usually directed at either John Ayrton Paris or Peter Mark Roget, and in 1824, John Ayrton Paris used on to demonstrate persistence of
vision at the Royal College of Physicians in London. 'Persistence of vision' being the phenomenon where an after image persists on the retina for approximately 1/25 of a second. It is reported that he based the invention on ideas of that of the astronomer John Herschel and geologist William Henry Fitton, some sources even credit Fitton with the invention of the thaumatrope as oppose to Paris.

The thaumatrope is incredibly simple when looking at how it works. It simply consists of a disk, usually made of card with images of varying difference on both sides. The disk is attached to string that when spun, causing the disk to rotate produces a still image with the not quite the illusion of movement, but the foundations of it that rely on the idea of the persistence of vision. This idea, and the illusion it created is considered one of the first steps towards producing the animation, and lays a foundation of moving image that we can relate to even with the work being produced today.

The next step from the thaumatrope was the phenakistoscope which used a spinning disk with multiple images to create the illusion of movement, and was the first real steps in making images move, and the first time moving image was really used.