Stanford University is bringing online the famous 3D anatomical image collection created by David L. Bassett and William B. Gruber in the early 1960’s.
From the New York Times:
Working closely with William Gruber, the inventor of the View-Master, the three-dimensional viewing system that GAF Corporation popularized as a toy in the 1960s, Dr. Bassett created the 25-volume “Stereoscopic Atlas of Human Anatomy” in 1962. It included some 1,500 pairs of slides, along with line drawings that made the details more discernible. The paired slides could be examined with a View-Master, making the chest cavity look cavernous, and making details of structure and tissue stand out unforgettably.
The atlas was an immediate success and the images became an important resource for medical students, even more so as schools have de-emphasized gross anatomy and cadaver work. But the atlas eventually went out of publication in the 1960s.
More: The Body in Depth…
The Bassett Collection on Flickr…
Slideshow featuring some of the collection’s images, and a photo of Dr. David L. Bassett and William B. Gruber working the View-Master…
Flashback: Bassett Anatomical Image Collection Goes Online