As a university student Plateau noticed in some early experiments that when looking from a small distance at two concentric cogwheels which turned fast in opposite directions, it produced the optical illusion of a motionless wheel.
Stampfer read about Faraday's findings in December 1832 and was inspired to do similar experiments, that soon led to his invention of what he called Stroboscopischen Scheiben oder optischen Zauberscheiben (stroboscope discs or optical magic discs).