Anorthoscope
Sign in to saveAn anorthoscope is a device that demonstrates an optical illusion that turns an anamorphic picture on a disc into a normal image by rotating it behind a counter-rotating disk with four radial slits. It was invented in 1829 by Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau, whose further studies of the principle led him to the 1832 invention of a stroboscopic animation that would become known as the phénakisticope (commonly regarded as a pinnacle in the development of cinematography, and thus as an important step in the history of modern media).
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An anorthoscope is a device that demonstrates an optical illusion that turns an anamorphic picture on a disc into a normal image by rotating it behind a counter-rotating disk with four radial slits. It was invented in 1829 by Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau, whose further studies of the principle led him to the 1832 invention of a stroboscopic animation that would become known as the phénakisticope (commonly regarded as a pinnacle in the development of cinematography, and thus as an important step in the history of modern media).
Anorthoscopes with a black background have a translucent picture and need a luminous slit revolving behind the image disc. To make them translucent, the discs were impregnated with oil on the back and varnished on both sides.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Anorthoscope” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.