Eadweard Muybridge was the most significant contributor to the early study of human and animal locomotion. 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.

Thomas Eakins , who painted motion subjects, helped arrange for Muybridge to work at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Muybridge's major accomplishments date from his threeyear stay there, during which he was able to improve his techniques. In 1887 his most important work, Animal Locomotion , was published in 11 volumes. It contained over 100,000 photographs taken between 1872 and 1885.

Muybridge lectured at "Zoopraxographical Hall" at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. He returned to England in 1894 and did little photography in his last years. His book "The Human Figure in Motion" was published in 1901. He died three years later at his native Kingston-on-the-Thames.