Dec 4, 2013
The zoetrope was invented in 1834 by William Horner and was originally called a Daedalum, or "Wheel of the Devil." However, zoetrope is derived from the Greek words zoe ("life") and tropos ("turn"), which apparently can be taken as "Wheel of Life."
The zoetrope was an advancement in the beginning of motion picture technology. It showed that the continuous flashing of still images can translate into movement of an object. After all, film is just that--many single images displayed consecutively and at a high speed with the result of apparent motion. The zoetrope is also a very early rendition of the modern day GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) file.
By the way, my computer is trying to spell check zoetrope.