Motion Picture Research Commemoration Plaque - 50 Years - Stanford Stables, Stanford, California
Posted by: DougK
N 37° 25.448 W 122° 11.119
10S E 572083 N 4142235
This commemorative plaque notes the historic occasion of motion picture research conducted in 1879 and now the site of Stanford University.
Waymark Code: WM10PDA
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 06/06/2019
Views: 5
Located near the horse corrals of the Stanford stables at the back of Stanford University campus is a bronze plaque. This particular plaque commemorates the historic occasion when motion picture research was conducted on the Palo Alto Farm (now Stanford University). The Plaque and it's mounting can be seen in
Google Street View. The plaque reads:
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE MOTION PICTURE RESEARCH CONDUCTED IN 1878 AND 1879 AT THE PALO ALTO FARM NOW THE SITE OF STANFORD UNIVERSITYTHIS EXTENSIVE PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPERIMENT PORTRAYING THE ATTITUDES OF MEN AND ANIMALS IN MOTION WAS CONCEIVED BY AND EXECUTED UNDER THE DIRECTION AND PATRONAGE OF LELAND STANFORD CONSECUTIVE IN STANTANEOUS EXPOSURES WERE PROVIDED FOR BY A BATTERY OF TWENTY FOUR CAMERAS FITTED WITH ELECTRO SHUTTERS EADWEARD J MUYBRIDGE PHOTOGRAPHER CARRIED OUT THE INVESTIGATION AND SHOWED THAT THE PHOTOGRAPHS COULD BE COMBINED IN PROJECTION TO GIVE THE TRUE APEARANCE OF MOTION JOHN D ISAACS MECHANICAL ENGINEER ADVANCED THE RESEARCH BY DEVISING ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT J D B STILLMAN, MD ANALYSED THE PHOTOGRAPHS RELATING TO THE LOCOMOTION OF THE HORSE THIS TABLET ERECTED BY STANFORD UNIVERSITY MAY 8 1929 |
This plaque commemorates the earliest known projection of moving images in the world, a very poignant occasion at the time. Eadweard Muybridge, the director of these images would later experiment with projecting moving images of men, women and children in various states of movement. Muybridge was a true pioneer of his day and his groundbreaking work with projecting moving images would inspire other individuals to move closer to inventing the movie camera.
Wikipedia contains a great article surrounding the events of this commemorative plaque and even contains an imbedded GIF animation of Muybridge's first moving images of a horse (Sallie) galloping on Palo Alto Farm.
Another
similar plaque
commemorating this event is located in the SW corner of Memorial Court near the Quad. Credit for the "lifted" HTML for the plaque here goes to NW_history_buff.
In addition, to this commemorative plaque, there is a nearby
California Historical Marker recognizing this event too.