Africa’s Taung Child [National Geographic magazine cover (Vol. 168, No. 5, Nov. 1985)]
Major collection: Holography
Named collection: Holography Collection
Object type: hologram
Date made: 1985
Materials: embossed mylar foil (white light transmission); foil
Measurements: 10 in x 7 in
Classification: holograms
Cover from the November 1985 (Vol. 168, No. 5) issue of National Geographic magazine; embossed in the cover is a rainbow-colored hologram on foil showing the fossil skull of a child, l caption under hologram reads `Holographic image of Africa’s Taung child, one to two million years old’; issue contained an article titled `The Search for Early Man.’
”Never before has any magazine published an entirely holographic cover,” it said today. ”No ink was used on the front, spine or back.”
But this is the third time that the magazine has included a hologram, or three-dimensional photo, on its cover. There was an eagle on March 1984 and the skull of the prehistoric Taung child in November 1985. The new issue shows the plant Earth being shattered. The world’s fragile nature is the theme of the December issue.
The picture was made by breaking a Steuban crystal globe, the magazine explained, and a green laser light was used to produce the image.