Georgie Porgie's Oily Lie

What's a Thaumatrope?

Its a cardboard disc with pictures on both sides. A piece of string is tied to holes on each side. By rolling the string between your fingers the images combine. They were popularized by, and perhaps invented by, Dr. John A. Paris in London in the early 1820s. Thaumatropes did not usually display animated pictures but they can portray limited motion due to the persistence of vision principle.

The human eye retains an image for approximately 1/20 of a second. Viewing the spinning thaumatrope disc the brain imagines the intervening motion thus creating a 'moving picture.'

Coincidently the first Georgie Porgie, King George IV, was going insane about the same time thaumatropes were invented. Apparently he went around telling people that he'd been a soldier and fought at the Battle of Waterloo. Sounds familiar huh?




	Make Your Own Georgie Porgie Thaumatrope		Home
	What's a Thaumatrope? Its a cardboard disc with pictures on both sides. A piece of string is tied to holes on each side. By rolling the string between your fingers the images combine. They were popularized by, and perhaps invented by, Dr. John A. Paris in London in the early 1820s. Thaumatropes did not usually display animated pictures but they can portray limited motion due to the persistence of vision principle. The human eye retains an image for approximately 1/20 of a second. Viewing the spinning thaumatrope disc the brain imagines the intervening motion thus creating a 'moving picture.' Coincidently the first Georgie Porgie, King George IV, was going insane about the same time thaumatropes were invented. Apparently he went around telling people that he'd been a soldier and fought at the Battle of Waterloo. Sounds familiar huh?