'Optic Wonder' - Make Your Own Thaumatrope!

The thaumatrope was at the cutting edge of science in 1824 — and is still a favorite hands-on activity for kids (and adults!) today. This simple historic toy was a precursor to modern animation. Part science, part history and part art, the thaumatrope works on the idea of “persistence of vision,” a flaw in the eye that causes an image to linger momentarily in the brain. Twisting the strings rapidly makes the two images appear to merge into one cohesive picture. Make your own thaumatrope today and then read below to discover science in the time of Texas' colonization!

Activity Directions

1. ​Download the PDF image by clicking here.
2. Color the image.
3. Cut out along the solid lines.
4. Fold the thaumatrope in half, aligning the tabs.
5. Use a hole punch to put holes through both tabs.
6. Thread yarn through the holes and tie securely.
7. Twist the yarn rapidly back and forth using the tips of your thumb and index finger.
8. Watch the two images merge into one!

Why Did One-Room Schools Not Focus on Science or History?

​At that time of early Texas colonization, most of the events that we study today (like the American Revolution) had just happened. These events were so fresh on everyone’s mind that it wasn’t important to learn them in school -- especially when your father or grandfather might have participated in the war and could tell you more than any book.

Science in 1824

Science, on the other hand, was in a completely different place. Many of the tenets of science that we take for granted today had not even been thought of at the time. In 1824, the year the first legal land grant was issued in Texas, there were many scientific breakthroughs:

• Franz von Gruithuisen explained the formation of craters on the Moon as a result of meteorite impacts
• Reverend Professor William Buckland became the first person to describe a dinosaur in a scientific journal. It was the first non-avian dinosaur to be validly named.
  • This was the only dinosaur at the time – which dinosaur do you think it was? (It was the Megalosaurus, which means “great lizard.”) A complete skeleton has never been found, so there are still many questions about this dinosaur.
  • How many dinosaurs can you name? (Did you know that George Washington died in 1799 -- meaning that he never knew about a single dinosaur!)
• Sadi Carnot scientifically analyzed the efficiency of steam engines and heat engines in general in his book Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire and on Machines Fitted to Develop that Power.
• Thomas Say began publishing American Entomology which included the first description of the Colorado Potato Beetle (also known as the ten-stripe spearman).
• 15-year-old Louis Braille created the six-dot code that later became known as Braille.
• Peter Mark Roget published a paper titled “Explanation of an optical deception in the appearance of the spokes of a wheel when seen through vertical apertures.”
  • This paper dealt with persistence of vision – basically that the brain can’t comprehend too many images at one time, so it starts to overlap them.
  • This principal was further illustrated by Dr. John Ayrton Paris, who demonstrated the first thaumatrope in front of the Royal College of Physicians in London in 1824.

Texas in 1832

In 1832, the first rumblings of what would become the Texas Revolution was starting in Anahuac.  Juan Davis Bradburn was trying to keep the peace and maintain the law, and was being thwarted at every turn by the increasingly resistant Anglo settlers. He later arresting the ever-popular William Barrett Travis.

Science in 1832

• Thomas Hodgkin first describes what would later become know as Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
• Dr. Thomas Bell publishes “A Monograph of the Testudinata” – the first comprehensive study of the world’s turtles.
• Pierre Jean Robiquet isolates the pain killer codeine.
• Louis Albert Necker publishes his optical illusion known as the “Necker Cube.”
• Michael Faraday works on electrolysis and is awarded the Copley Medal.
  • Faraday (1791-1867) came from humble beginnings (his father was a blacksmith). He was ignored by some of the prominent scientists of the day because he was not a member of the upper class. Eventually, though, his results and ideas about electricity could no longer be ignored and he was elected to the Royal Society in 1824.
  • He wrote a paper called “On a Peculiar Class of Optical Deceptions” in 1830.
• Two different people independently develop the phenakistoscope.
  • Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (1801-1883) was a Belgium physicist with an interest in vision.
    • In 1832, working with Michael Faraday, he came up with the idea of a phenakistoscope – the first device to give the illusion of a moving image.
  • Simon von Stampfer  (1790/1792–1864) was an Austrian mathematician and inventor.
    • He used the same 1830 paper by Michael Faraday to create what he called the Stampfer Disc (or stroboscopic disc).

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This blog post is adapted from a lecture by Allison Harrell called “Science in the Time of Texas Colonization.” To contact her about giving this lecture for your group or organization, email aharrell@fortbendmuseum.org.