Stereopsis (from meaning solidity, and opsis meaning vision or
sight) is the process in
visual perception leading to perception of stereoscopic depth. In turn, stereoscopic depth is the sensation of depth that emerges from the fusion of the two slightly different projections of the world on the two retinas. The difference between the two eyes' images, which is a result of the eyes' horizontal separation, is usually referred to as binocular disparity or retinal disparity. The fact that this binocular disparity is interpreted by the brain as depth was first discovered by the English genius
Charles Wheatstone and described by him in a classic paper published in 1838: ”… the mind perceives an object of three-dimensions by means of the two dissimilar pictures projected by it on the two retinæ…”, (Wheatstone, 1838). To prove his ideas Wheatstone invented a simple device, which he dubbed a
stereoscope. Using his newly invented stereoscope Wheatstone was able to convincingly show that a vivid sense of depth emerges from two completely flat pictures depicting two different projections of the same scene.
See more at Wikipedia.org...