Joseph Plateau – Google doodle on phénakistiscope’s founder on his 218th birthday

Joseph Plateau, the renowned Belgian physicist gets an honor from Google with a beautiful doodle on his 218^th birthday. He was one of the first people to demonstrate the illusion of a moving image. His research on visual perception inspired him to invent a device he called the phénakistiscope that led to the birth of cinema by creating the illusion of a moving image.

Joseph Plateau was born on October 14, 1801 in Brussels. He was the son of flower painter. At the young age of six he was already able to read and this made him a child prodigy in those times. He used to spend his school holidays in Marche-Les-Dames, with his uncle and his family. His cousin and playfellow was Auguste Payen, who later became an architect and the principal designer of the Belgian railways. At the age of 14, he lost his father and mother. The trauma caused by this loss made him fall ill.

Joseph Plateau was best known for his work of physiological optics, mainly the effect of light and color on the human retina. His doctoral dissertation revealed how explored how images form on the retina. By utilizing this research, he became successful in creating a stroboscopic device in 1832 that helped to understand the illusion of a dancer in motion. This period was the beginning of cinema.

Before this discovery, he worked as a teacher of mathematics at the Atheneum school in Brussels. He graduated as a doctor of physical and mathematical sciences in 1829. He was later, in 1835, was appointed as the Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Ghent University.

In 1872, Joseph Plateau became foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also studied the phenomena of capillary action and surface tension. He conducted extensive studies of soap films and formulated Plateau's laws, which describe the structures formed by such films in foams.

Google today dedicates a doodle to Joseph Plateau on his 218^th birthday.