# 3061 - 1996 32c Pioneers of Communication: Eadweard Muybridge
His name at birth was Edward James Muggeridge, but he adopted the name Eadweard Muybridge, which he believed was the proper Anglo-Saxon form of his name. After finishing his schooling in England, Muybridge decided to travel to the United States when he was 20.
After arriving in New York City, Muybridge settled in San Francisco in 1855, where he worked as a bookseller and publisher’s agent for the London Printing and Publishing Company. In 1860, Muybridge was badly injured in stagecoach crash in which he was ejected from the vehicle and hit his head. During his recovery in England, Muybridge became interested in photography. He also received two patents, one for printing-making techniques and another for washing clothes.
In 1872, Muybridge killed a man that he believed to have fathered a child with his wife. His lawyer claimed insanity, brought on by his previous head injury, and Muybridge was ultimately acquitted. Shortly after, he went on a nine-month photography trip to Central America. In 1882 he returned to England to lecture at the Royal Institution. Also in the 1880s, the University of Pennsylvania hired Muybridge to use his techniques to study people in a studio and animals in the Philadelphia Zoo.
Click here to view some of Muybridge’s photos.
His name at birth was Edward James Muggeridge, but he adopted the name Eadweard Muybridge, which he believed was the proper Anglo-Saxon form of his name. After finishing his schooling in England, Muybridge decided to travel to the United States when he was 20.
After arriving in New York City, Muybridge settled in San Francisco in 1855, where he worked as a bookseller and publisher’s agent for the London Printing and Publishing Company. In 1860, Muybridge was badly injured in stagecoach crash in which he was ejected from the vehicle and hit his head. During his recovery in England, Muybridge became interested in photography. He also received two patents, one for printing-making techniques and another for washing clothes.
In 1872, Muybridge killed a man that he believed to have fathered a child with his wife. His lawyer claimed insanity, brought on by his previous head injury, and Muybridge was ultimately acquitted. Shortly after, he went on a nine-month photography trip to Central America. In 1882 he returned to England to lecture at the Royal Institution. Also in the 1880s, the University of Pennsylvania hired Muybridge to use his techniques to study people in a studio and animals in the Philadelphia Zoo.
Click here to view some of Muybridge’s photos.