Google is celebrating the 182nd birthday of Eadweard Muybridge, widely considered the father of motion picture, today with a new animated doodle. The search engine replaced its official logo on its homepage with an animation that depicts his ‘Sallie Gardner at a Gallop,’ otherwise known as ‘The Horse in Motion.’ The film strips were shot in the 1870s, using a series of interval-spaced cameras at former California governor Leland Stanford’s stable.

‘Sallie Gardner at a Gallop’ is one of Muybridge’s most famous motion photography experiments. The experiment came after Stanford, who was also a businessman and animal breeder, asked the English photographer to help him find out if a horse’s legs ever came off the ground while running.

Muybridge used 24 different cameras to conduct the experiment. He proved with a series of pictures that all four of a horse’s legs do indeed leave the ground while running. In order to share his findings with Standford and the world, Muybridge used a zoopraxiscope, a device he developed which served as an early predecessor of the movie projector. His development helped pave the way for the technology used for motion pictures.

While Stanford published ‘Sallie Gardner at a Gallop,’ he didn’t credit Muybridge for his work. The photographer sued the businessman in court, but lost to Stanford.

Written by: Karen Benardello