The Universe in a Popup Book
The Universe in a Popup Book
A popup book is a three-dimensional paper book with movable parts animated by turning pages, sliders, strings, pulleys, and so on. In a sense, this is an precursor of the Wolfram Demonstration. Popup books first appeared in the late Middle Ages as a computational aid and a means to demonstrate astronomical models. A notable early example was the Astronomicum Caesareum (Emperor's Astronomy) by Petrus Apianus (1540). In modern times, popups have evolved into artistic objects to amuse both children and grownups.
Blending the original purpose with the modern vocation, this Demonstration offers a popup ebook, primarily meant as a teaching aid to introduce primary and middle-school students to astronomy and modern cosmology. Slide to "turn page", read the text, and slide "gear". Press "next" for the next page, "previous" for the previous one, or jump by clicking "table" and selecting the desired page. You can rotate the graphic to get some interesting different perspectives, which sometimes say more than dozens of words. For more comfortable reading, magnify by 150%.