Google doodles physicist Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau — who brought cinema to life

• Google Doodle is celebrating physicist Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau’s 218th birthday today.
  
• He invented the device phenakistoscope, which brought the concept of cinema into existence.
  
• He was known for his work in physiological optics — showing the impact of light and colour on the human eye.

Google Doodle is celebrating physicist Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau’s 218th birthday today — the man who brought the concept of cinema into existence. He invented phenakistoscope, a device that demonstrated moving images.

He showed how the human mind captures and perceives a string of actions or motions over a span of time as a video.

"Inspired by the mesmerizing animated discs, the animated Doodle art was made to reflect Plateau's style, with different imagery and themes in them on different device platforms," NDTV reported citing Google’s description of the Doodle.

Hailing from Brussels, Belgium, Joseph Plateau was one of the renowned Belgian scientists of the 19th century. He was known for his work in physiological optics — showing the impact of light and colour on the human eye.

The invention

His experiments in the field of physiological optics led to the creation of stroboscopic device. This device consisted of two discs, rotating in opposite directions. Both the discs had different visuals — windows and a string of pictures of a dancer.

When the two images merged, it looked like an artist performing dance.

This led to the invention of the spinning cardboard phenakistoscope that created an animation effect. However, the physicist lost his vision later, but continued to study science and performing experiments.

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