Eadweard Muybridge, born Edward James Muggeridge in April 9, 1830, was an English photographer known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion which used multiple cameras to capture motion in a way that had not been done before. His work significantly contributed to the development of cinematography and the study of physiology.
Muybridge was born in Kingston upon Thames, England. He later moved to the United States in 1852, where he initially worked as a bookseller in New York before heading to San Francisco. There, he adopted the name Eadweard Muybridge, perhaps to emphasize his connection to England or for artistic reasons.
Muybridge's photography career took off when he was commissioned to photograph the Yosemite National Park and other landscapes of the American West. His work in this area was both artistic and commercial, contributing significantly to the visual documentation of the American frontier.
Perhaps his most famous work began in 1872 when he was hired by Leland Stanford, the former governor of California, to settle a bet. Stanford wanted to prove that all four feet of a horse were off the ground at some point during its trot or gallop. Muybridge's solution was to set up a series of cameras triggered by tripwires. In 1878, he successfully captured a horse in motion, demonstrating that indeed, all four hooves could be off the ground simultaneously. This sequence of photographs, known as "The Horse in Motion," revolutionized the understanding of animal locomotion and laid the groundwork for motion pictures.
Following his success with "The Horse in Motion," Muybridge invented the Zoöpraxiscope, a device that projected images in rapid succession to give the illusion of motion, essentially an early form of motion picture projector. His lectures and demonstrations with the Zoöpraxiscope were popular, spreading his findings and the technology to a broad audience.
Muybridge's work had profound implications:
After his work on locomotion, Muybridge returned to England, where he continued to work on his photographs and other projects until his death on May 8, 1904. His legacy includes: