This scientific toy with moving images relies on retinal persistence to make us believe that we see moving images. From first scientific toys that used animated images to modern movies, retinal persistence has been fundamental to fooling the mind into believing that a series of static images are in motion. In 1834, the English mathematician George Horner proposed a practical apparatus based on the phenakistoscope of Plateau and Stampfer (1830). It eliminated the need for a mirror and it enabled several people at the same time to view the moving pictures- an advance over the single spectator
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