Coined 1817 from Greek 'kalos' (beautiful) + 'eidos' (form) + 'skopein' (to look) — 'a viewer of beautiful forms.'
A tube containing mirrors and pieces of coloured glass or paper whose reflections produce changing patterns when the tube is rotated; a constantly changing pattern or sequence of elements.
Coined in 1817 by Scottish physicist Sir David Brewster, who invented the instrument and named it from Greek kalós (beautiful) + eîdos (form, shape, appearance) + skopéō (I look at, I observe). Kalós derives from a root related to beauty and nobility in Greek. Eîdos derives from PIE *weyd- (to see, to know), which also gives
Brewster patented the kaleidoscope in 1817, but the patent was poorly worded and easily circumvented. Within months, hundreds of thousands of kaleidoscopes were being manufactured and sold across Britain and Europe without any royalties to the inventor. Brewster, one of the leading physicists of his era, earned almost nothing from one of the nineteenth century's most popular toys — but his beautifully
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