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How are holograms possible?

3Blue1Brown · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Fundamental physicsRecreational & visual math

What it is

3Blue1Brown explains how holograms record a 3D scene on 2D film, using wave diffraction and phase. The video includes demonstrations of several real holograms.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN commenters call it the best explanation of how holograms work, and one says it transformed their understanding.

  • 3 people recommended it
  • 3 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2024, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “this might be one of my most favorite videos ever single-handedly changing my understanding of holograms”

    Transformed the commenter's understanding of holograms

    omneity, 2025-09 · Strong recommendation · in “Hololuminescent Display”

  2. “There was a very nice explanation on three-blue-brown recently.”

    Nice explanation of real holograms using diffraction and phase

    injidup, 2024-10 · Recommendation · in “The Physics of Magic Windows (2021)”

  3. “I found 3Blue1Brown's explanation to be the best”

    Best explanation of holograms, though not directly implementation-ready

    aeonik, 2025-04 · Recommendation · in “Raspberry Pi Lidar Scanner”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: holograms, diffraction, wave optics, phase, 3blue1brown

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