Illusions
Ray Hyman believes that he was responsible for getting Andrus interested in optical illusions. Hyman showed him the Mach-Eden illusion using an index card. Andrus didn't seem interested, but came back to Hyman some time later and showed him how he had improved it by inventing an illusion of a house.
Speaking at the Skeptic's Toolbox about the importance of understanding optical illusions, Andrus said, "The point of demonstrating illusions is not merely to show we can be fooled... rather to appreciate that the human mind is in fact working correctly... we look at a parked car on the street, we assume that the part of the car we can't see is there too; our brains have to do this so that we can make sense of the world around us".
In 1954, Andrus created the famous "Linking Pins", a close-up illusion in which closed safety pins are rapidly linked together in twos, threes and chains.
Invited by long-time friend and fellow magician Ray Hyman, Andrus brought many of his optical illusions to the annual Skeptic's Toolbox, held each August on the University of Oregon's campus. Two of the more popular Andrus illusions the "impossible box" and "Oregon vortex plank illusion" are explained in this Skeptical Inquirer article.
In the months before his death, Andrus continued to invent illusions. His media were common household items: metal springs, rope, wire, cardboard, wood 2 X 4's and steel rods. Many of his illusions are viewable on the Internet and some have already expanded on his inventions.
Read more about this topic: Jerry Andrus
Famous quotes containing the word illusions:
“Illusions are certainly expensive amusements: but the destruction of illusions is even more expensive—when looked upon as an amusement, which to many people is what it undeniably is.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Swann was one of those men who, having long lived in the illusions of love, saw the well-being that they gave to many women heighten their happiness without evoking in these women any gratitude, any tenderness toward them; but in their child these men believe they feel an affection which, embodied in their very name, will make them outlast their death. When there was to no longer be a Charles Swann, there would still be a Mademoiselle Swann ... who would continue to love her departed father.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“Of all illusions in the world, the most universally received is the concern for reputation and glory, which we espouse even to the point of giving up riches, rest, life, and health, which are effectual and substantial goods, to follow that vain phantom and mere sound that has neither body nor substance.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)