Synthetic computer worlds have long occupied human imagination, it has, however, only been in recent years that they have become commonly known by names like "virtual reality" or "cyberspa­ ce". The author William Cibson introdu­ ced the catchy expression "cyberspace" in his Sci-fi novel "Neuromancer". It appea­ red in 1984 and was about a cybernetic cosmos which could be entered by way of an interface into the brain. Around the same time, self-made scientist Jaron Lanier was conjuring up a new form of "post-symbolic communication ", a sort of interaction and exchange o f graphic simu­ lation - "enigmatic mini-universes", which he started calling "virtual reality". So much for the background of the termi­ nology. In practice, virtual reality has come about from various sources. Its beginning is in centuries old picture pan­ oramas generally painted on elliptical horizons. Another forerunner was the "sensorama" of the 50s, the early simula­ tor of the creative cinematographer Morton Heilig. Military flight simulators dating back to the 30s also number among VR's ancestors. As early as the 60s, the first VR viewing unit appeared, the Head Mounted Displays (HMD) developed by Ivan Sutherland, the same man who pioneered new areas in interactive com­ puter graphics. NASA's contribution is evi­ dent, as is the role played by increasing numbers of research institutes and the first commercial companies appearing on the scene. Jaron Lanier was, however, the one who along with co-workers founded the California company VPL and first com­ mercially launched VR systems. The pro­ ducts ranged from commercial HMD's to newly developed data input devices like the popular data gloves.