Growing up in the 1960s, one of my favourite toys was an orange plastic View-Master which came with thin cardboard discs containing pairs of small Kodachrome photographs.
When viewed through the apparatus it created the illusion of three-dimensional scenes of a diverse range of subjects such as famous landmarks, cartoon characters and fairy tales.
The View-Master debuted at the World's Fair in 1939 in New York and was intended as an alternative to the scenic postcard. It was originally sold at photography shops, stationery stores and scenic-attraction gift shops.
But the origins of this toy date back to the early 1800s to an invention called the stereoscope. Mr Elliot, a mathematics teacher from Edinburgh, produced the first stereoscopes as early as 1823 using drawn transparent landscapes, as photography was still in its early stages.
David Brewster, a Scottish scientist, author and academic administrator who invented the kaleidoscope, is mostly remembered for his work in physical optics and was known as "The father of modern experimental optics". He is credited with refining Elliot's invention which he called a "lenticular stereoscope" (lenticular meaning relating to the lens of the eye).
