Predecessors Assessment: Virtual Reality In The 1800s And 1900s

Predecessors Assessment

Panorama

Although most people have tried virtual reality only quite recently, the technology of VR has existed for a few decades. Virtual reality started through paintings throughout the period of 1800s and 1900s. There are many examples across the world. In 1801 Robert Mitchell created a panorama that was installed in Leicester Square (The forgotten ancestors of Virtual Reality, 2016). This piece of art was one of pieces that gave the impression of being in a place that is somewhere else thus is virtual reality.

Stereograph

Shortly after the invention of photography came the stereograph. Where the photographer takes two pictures from slightly different points of view. And therefore, when one put them with a stereoscope together they can confuse an image. To be completely honest, head mount displays aren't really technically much more sophisticated than this. One would have a head mount display that has two screens showing two images, and whereas before this was done with prints. So, then one would print a photograph and show it on the little device. Now everyone just uses screens.

Simulators and Sensorama

And this was really inspired by the need to train people, in particular training people like pilots. The first simulators for training pilots came in the First World War, so there was a need to train a lot of people very quickly (History Of Virtual Reality, 2017). The flight simulators have been a very big part of virtual reality since the Second World War, with many companies specializing in flight simulators. For example, Companies like Evans & Sutherland, then develop these systems to be digital. No history of the analog virtual reality would be complete without mentioning Morton Heilig's Sensorama simulator (History Of Virtual