If any of you were walking through the Quad yesterday, you perhaps noticed a filming crew setup to talk to students (and apparently anyone else that walked by) about an optical illusion entitled “Checker Shadow Illusion”. They stopped me and asked if I wanted to participate, so I did! Who can pass up an opportunity to appear on a PBS documentary about an optical illusion?

The Checker Shadow Illusion was published at MIT in 1995 by Professor Edward Adelson. The premise being that two squares on a checkerboard appear to be different colors as one is being overshadowed by a cylindrical sphere. Here is an of the board along with two grey stripes showing you the colors are the same in the two squares.
You can also read the full illusion explanation on Wikipedia.

If you’re one of the handful of people who watch PBS, let me know if you see me!