This is excerpted from The Encyclopedia of Photography
This photograph was taken by Eadweard Muybridge who was the most significant contributor to the early study of human and animal locomotion in the 19th century. His extensive studies and inventions were acknowledged by such pioneers of motion pictures as E. J. Marey, the Lumiere brothers, and Thomas Edison.
In 1872 Muybridge was enlisted by Leland Stanford to settle a wager regarding the position of a trotting horse's legs. Using the fastest shutter available, Muybridge was able to provide only the faintest image. He was more successful five years later when, employing a battery of cameras with mechanically tripped shutters, he showed clearly the stages of the horse's movement: at top speed, a trotting horse had all four hooves off the ground simultaneously, and in a different configuration from that of a galloping horse.
Muybridge concentrated his efforts on studies of the motion of animals and human models. His work in stop-action series photography soon led to his invention of the "zoopraxiscope," a primitive motion-picture machine which recreated movement by displaying individual photographs in rapid succession. This machine was demonstrated privately in America as early as 1879, and at public gatherings in Europe over the next two years. Muybridge demonstrated and lectured on his work at the Royal Institution and Royal Academy, London, in 1882 and in major American cities in 1883.
