Thaumatrope

A thaumatrope is a simple optical toy from the 19th century that creates an illusion of movement or combined images when spun rapidly. It consists of a disk with different pictures on each side, connected by strings. When you twirl the strings quickly, the images blend visually, appearing as one combined image due to persistence of vision. The thaumatrope demonstrates how our eyes and brain work together to perceive continuous motion or combined scenes from separate images. It’s an early example of visual animation, illustrating fundamental principles of how images can appear to move or transform through rapid viewing.