What became the Magic Eye illusion fad of the 1990s was born by way of the stereogram of the 1950s (and even before that). It's a winding story that you'll love!
# Summary
This episode of Stuff You Should Know explores the fascinating history of magic eye posters and the science of stereograms—those seemingly random patterns that reveal hidden 3D images when you relax your eyes. The hosts trace the discovery of binocular vision and depth perception back to ancient Roman scientist Ptolemy, then follow the scientific breakthroughs through the 1800s with Charles Wheatstone's stereoscope invention, and ultimately arrive at the explosive 1990s fad. You'll learn how a Connecticut mathematician named Tom Bache accidentally stumbled into creating a cultural phenomenon while designing an ad for a tech company, and how these visual illusions went from Japanese street corners to Walmart kiosks and bestselling books that had millions of people staring intently at posters, trying to train their eyes to see the hidden pictures.
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