Skip to main content

Origin of Virtual Reality

  • Living reference work entry
  • Latest version View entry history
  • First Online:
  • 149 Accesses

Synonyms

Artificial reality; Simulated environment; Simulations; VR

Definitions

Virtual reality is the experience of an artificial environment simulated by a computer. The environment is provided through sensory stimuli such as sights, sound, vibration, and even smells. Interactive hardware and software create a realistic and immersive simulation, often in a three-dimensional environment to provide a more lifelike experience.

Introduction

Virtual reality (VR) technology has been around for much longer than most individuals realize. In this article, we will go through the history of VR from the beginning to the more recent accomplishments.

The History of Virtual Reality

Historically speaking, we have been attempting to create experiences that put users into virtual scenes for longer than we have had electricity. Across the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the panorama was patented by the Scottish Portraitist Robert Barker in 1787, where an exhibited painting was placed on a...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emily Peed .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Peed, E., Lee, N. (2019). Origin of Virtual Reality. In: Lee, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_281-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_281-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-08234-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08234-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Computer SciencesReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Origin of Virtual Reality
    Published:
    16 November 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_281-2

  2. Original

    Origin of Virtual Reality
    Published:
    26 April 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_281-1