Who is Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau? Belgian physicist gets Google Doodle

It's time to honour another hero of the past.

On what would be his 218th birthday, Google has honoured Belgian physicist Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau with a Google Doodle , but what is he famous for?

Plateau was born in Brussels, Belgium, on October 14, 1801 as the son of a talented painter from Tournai, and was something of a child prodigy for his day due to his advanced literary abilities at a young age.

In primary school, Plateau became enchanted with physics through experiments he observed.

At the age of fourteen, Plateau lost both his mother and father, prompting him to fall ill as he failed to cope with the trauma.

He went on to study at the University of Liege, graduating in 1829 as a doctor of physical and mathematical sciences, with his doctoral thesis containing a number of revolutionary conclusions in regards to the effects of colours on the retina, the intersections of revolving curves, the distortion of moving images, and reconstruction of distorted images through counter revolving discs or anorthoscopic discs.

He went on to become a mathematics teacher at Atheneum in Brussels in 1827.

By 1832, Plateau had invented a "phenakistiscope", the first device to give the illusion of moving images, consisting of two disks, one with small windows, through which the viewer could look, and another containing a series of images.

When the two disks rotated at the correct speed, the synchronisation of both created the illusion of a moving image.

The scientist finally became Professor for Physics and Applied Physics at Ghent University in 1835.

He continued to experiment with soap films as he studied the mathematical problem of the existence of a minimal surface with a given boundary, a problem dubbed "Plateau's Problem".

In 1840, Plateau found romantic happiness, marrying Augustine–Thérèse–Aimée–Fanny Clavareau, who he went on to father a son and daughter with.

Plateau passed away on September 15, 1883, in Ghent, Belgium, at the age of 81.

He has been honoured with a Google Doodle, an animation depicting a phenakistiscope.

Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (1801-1883)