Thaumatropes and The Origins of Animation
Thaumatrope by John Ayrton Paris, 1825
Way before Pixar, and before the Disney and Warner Brother’s empires, there was the Thaumatrope. A thaumatrope is a small disc, held on opposite sides of its circumference by pieces of string. An image is drawn on each side of the disc, and is selected in such a way that when the disc is spun, the two images appear to become superimposed. The faster the disc rotates, the greater the clarity of the illusion. The invention of the thaumatrope, which means “turning marvel” or “wonder turner,” has often been credited to the astronomer Sir John Herschel. However, it was a well-known London physicist, Dr. John A. Paris, who made this toy popular.
Although the thaumatrope does not produce animated scenes, it relies on the same persistence of vision principle that other optical toys use to create illusions of motion. Persistence of vision is the eye’s ability to retain an image for roughly 1/20 of a second after the object is gone. In this case, the eye continues to see the two images on either side of the thaumatrope shortly after each has disappeared. As the thaumatrope spins, the series of quick flashes is interpreted as one continuous image.
It’s very easy to make your own Thaumatrope at home.
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Cut a circle from a piece of cardboard.
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On one side draw a cage.
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On the other side of the cardboard, draw a monkey (or pick two other related pictures like a fish and a fishbowl).
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Punch a whole on each side of the circle and attach a string to each.
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Roll the string back and forth between your fingers, and watch two images become one!
