Joseph Plateau (1801-1883) was the first scientist at Ghent University studying light and applying that knowledge to develop something we now all know as "moving images" or movies.

Joseph Plateau was a Belgian physicist. He described many visual phenomena, including persistence of visual impression.

In 1836 he invented an early stroboscopic device, the "phenakistiscope". It consisted of two disks, one with small equidistant radial windows, through which the viewer could look, and another containing a sequence of images. When the two disks rotated at the correct speed, the synchronization of the windows and the images created an animated effect. The projection of stroboscopic photographs, creating the illusion of motion, foreshadowed the cinema.

Fascinated by the persistence of luminous impressions on the retina, he performed an experiment in which he gazed directly into the sun for 25 seconds. Consequently, he lost his eyesight later in his life. He continued his research at Ghent University as a blind person for forty years, partly inoptics. Joseph Plateau died in Ghent.