3D hologram Maker

Mirage® has been the delight of children, students, parents, friends, business acquaintances, and even heads of State (Ronald Reagan for one).

Because Mirage® is largely a boutique item it has never been mass marketed nor overexposed. Even after 35 years a Mirage® has rarely been seen by anyone - let alone owned. This adds to its mystique, virtually insuring that the recipient of a gift Mirage® does not have one already.

"The first time I saw a Mirage® was in the supply room at Indiana State University. It became the first object in my collection of toys that demonstrate physical properties.

I use the Mirage® primarily as a Gee-Whiz demonstration in optics lab, but I have found that it helps students to understand the difference between real and virtual images.

An engineering professor who teaches a World Cultures class remarked that he would have liked to have had the Mirage® in his class. It would have been the perfect example of the fact that not everything is exactly what it appears to be."

- Lab Supervisor, Evansville, Indiana

"I wanted to let you know that the activity using the Mirage® was a smashing success! So many students were completely amazed, and even those who had seen it before found at least one new thing that they had never encountered. Thanks so much for all your help in getting the Mirages to us on time for the activity!

Our technical support staff and students were all so amazed by the Mirage that there has been a general clamor for us to get more. Thanks again for all your help."

- Krishna Chowdary, Evergreen College

Mirage® is used in these disciplines:

• SCIENCE
• PHYSICS
• PSYCHOLOGY
• PHILOSOPHY
• MATH
• OPTICS
• RELIGION
• SPECIAL EDUCATION
• KINDERGARTEN

For more information, investigate these fascinating links:

Teaching Philosophy

Ask the Chairman of Trinity's Philosophy Department, Richard Lee, what philosophy is and he will respond that it is the "process of making the familiar strange – and the strange familiar." Ask what he mans by that, and he will very likely smile, turn to his desk, and open a drawer.

There, amidst the paper clips and manila folders, is a box containing a black, convex disk with what looks like a stainless steel tack on top. Rotating the disk so as to rotate the tack, he'll then ask you what you see.

If you say that you see a stainless steel tack rotating on a black, convex disk, he'll ask you to pick up the tack, which may seem simple – until you try. As your fingers close around it, it dissolves just as surely as a handful of light.

If that tack seemed to be there, it was only courtesy of several well-placed mirrors. And just as tacks aren't always where we think, things aren't always what they seem.

TRINITY COLLEGE, Hartford, Connecticut
(Philosophy Department brochure)

A MATRIX ANALYSIS of the "MIRAGE" OPTICAL-ILLUSION TOY

Sriya Adhya, John Noe and Harold Metcalf,