Joseph Plateau, Belgian physicist and academic, created the Phenakistoscope (d. 1883)
Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (14 October 1801 – 15 September 1883) was a Belgian physicist and mathematician. He was one of the first people to demonstrate the illusion of a moving image. To do this, he used counterrotating disks with repeating drawn images in small increments of motion on one and regularly spaced slits in the other. He called this device of 1832 the phenakistiscope.

1801Oct, 14
Joseph Plateau
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Events on 1801
- 1Jan
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. - 17Feb
Thomas Jefferson
An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President of the United States and Burr, Vice President by the United States House of Representatives. - 2Apr
Battle of Copenhagen (1801)
French Revolutionary Wars: The British capture the Danish fleet. - 10May
Barbary pirates
First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America. - 1Aug
Action of 1 August 1801
First Barbary War: The American schooner USS Enterprise captures the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a single-ship action off the coast of modern-day Libya.