J. D. B. Stillman (1819-1888)

The original photographs that served as the basis of the analysis of the horses’ strides were executed by Eadweard J. Muybridge (1830-1904) at the request of Leland Stanford. Stanford, founder of Stanford University, was determined to prove that “the accepted theory of the relative positions of the feet of horses in rapid motion was erroneous.” The camera served as laboratory equipment, and the track as laboratory in an experiment to prove through the use of “instantaneous pictures that show the limbs at each instance of stride."