Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904)

Muybridge serial photos of trotting horse Meanwhile, a British immigrant and California bookseller invented a fast shutter and used it to take pictures that froze motion.

In 1872, Leland Stanford hired Muybridge to take photographs that would show whether all four hoofs of a trotting horse left the ground simultaneously (an idea called "unsupported transit").

Stanford might have bet $25,000 on the outcome (or not).

It took Muybridge until 1878 to solve the issue (in the meantime he had murdered his wife's lover and spent time in exile in Central America). But he devised a system capable of taking pictures fast enough to decide the question.

Muybridge went on to create thousands of "serial photographs" and a basic projector, the "zoöpraxiscope" which showed images painted on a glass disk.

Homage to Muybridge (low res)

Next: Edison

Muybridge's unsuported transit experiment explained.

The Muybridge murder case: In 1871, Muybridge married Flora Shallcross Stone. He was in his 40s and she was 20 years younger. In 1874, he found a letter that Flora had written to Major Harry Larkyns. The letter included a picture of Muybridge's "son" on the back of which Flora had written "little Harry." Muybridge had named his son Florado Helios. Muybridge went in search of Larkyns and there are various accounts of what happened next. However, they generally agree that Muybridge found and confronted Larkyns, said something like "I've a message from my wife," and shot Larkyns at point blank range. Larkyns died almost immediately. Muybridge was charged with murder. He pleaded inocent on the grounds of insanity, however he later discounted the idea that he was insane. His laywers built their case around a stagecoach accident that Muybridge had suffered in Northeast Texas in 1860. They argued that he accident resulted in brain injuries that left Muybridge unstable (Muybridge's accident happened before he began his career in photography so, it didn't leave him unstable enough to prevent him from having an illustrious career). The judge instructed the jury that Muybridge's knowlege of the adulterous relationship between his wife and Larkyns did not entitle him to take the law into his own hands and was not acceptable grounds for acquital. Nevertheless, the jury found that what Muybridge did was "justifiable homicide," probably the last such finding in the state of California. Muybridge divorced his wife (who died a few months later), abandoned the child, and went to Central America. Florado Helios was raised in an orphanage. He lived until 1944 and worked as a gardener.

And, how do you pronounce Eadweard Muybridge? So, his name was originally Edward James Muggeridge and he used various names during his life. It's clear that he pronounced his first name as Edward. He may have believed that Eadweard was the "accurate" medieval spelling. There is some controversy over how he pronounced his last name. It is either May-Bridge or My-Bridge (but not Moi-Bridge or Muy-Bridge).