The French Physicist Versus The American Inventor in the Pursuit of Colour and 3-Dimensionality

Scholarly essay by Susan Gamble on the 19C pre-history of virtual reality.

This scholarly essay traces the 19th-century origins of three-dimensional representation and immersive media, examining the parallel but competing approaches of French physicists and American inventors in the pursuit of realistic color and spatial reproduction.

Gamble's research reveals how these early experiments with optical phenomena and stereoscopic vision laid the groundwork for contemporary holography and virtual reality technologies, while also illuminating the cultural and scientific contexts that shaped their development.