Which scientist proved that horses lift all four legs when running?

• A. Etienne-Jules Marey
• B. Edweard Muybridge
• C. Leland Stanford
• D. Thomas Edison

Answer: (B)

Studying motion through rapid, sequential photography reveals how a galloping animal moves between moments. Eadweard Muybridge built a setup with many cameras lined along a track, each triggered as the horse passed by. The resulting sequence captured the animal at successive instants, showing that there are moments when all four hooves are off the ground. This directly demonstrated that horses lift all four legs during running, settling a long-running question about locomotion. The work was funded by Leland Stanford and led to the famous photographic sequences that could be projected later with the zoopraxiscope. While Etienne-Jules Marey pursued similar ideas with chronophotography and a single camera, Muybridge’s multipart capture provided the specific proof in question. Edison contributed to early film technology but did not produce this particular demonstration.