Joseph Plateau 1801-1883

Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau, or plateau for short was a famous physicist born in 1801 (died at the age of 82) he was famed for his demonstration of ‘the illusion of a moving image’. Though this had been done before (Stop motion animation methods go back as far as 180AD Tin Huan) he was the first to be able to explain how it works and with scientific theory recreate a working device more advanced than any before.

Plateau according to official records was able to read at the age of 6, which given the time period in which many adults still couldn’t read made him a genius, some even going as far to say he was a child prodigy (reference Van der Mensbrugghe biographer & collaborator).

Plateau was always very interested and inquisitive as to the persistence of luminous impressions on the retina (Like when you stare at a bright light then look away!) this was the beginning of his research into his animation device. In 1829 he submitted a thesis revolving around how the retina portrays several different things including, colour, moving images, and reconstruction of images. All of these concepts together in 1832 created his invention known as the Phenakiscope.

My thoughts?

There’s no doubt this man was incredibly intelligent, graduating from the university of Liege in 1829 as a physicist & mathematical scientist, two very high up professions which were only just beginning to take off making ground breaking discoveries and advancements. Becoming a professor in 1835 he made rapid advancement in his own career and social standings. This clearly shows his passion and determination for physics and absorbing as much knowledge as possible.

Importance?
There is no argument that Plateau was a key figure to the evolution of stop-motion, without him and his understanding of what would later be known as persistence of vision, animation methods would not have been discovered. This is a key point to consider, because of his work into the retina it became known that the eye infact can store an image for several miliseconds which when many were played at speed would give the illusion of a moving image, when infact it is just an overlap of imagry in the retina. Without this concept there is not a single animation method to date which would work, as none yet have mastered a way to get movement into a single image. As such to sumarise Plateau is the basis for Stop-motion advancement, and so the evolution of animation as a whole.