Hey everyone, a quick note. This is the final episode in the spring season of the Disappearing

Spoo. I'll be back again in the fall with more great stories. If you're craving additional

material before then, check out the bonus episodes at patreon.com slash Disappearing Spoo.

You should also check out the Fantastic Distillations podcast through the Science History Institute.

In the meantime, enjoy the summer, and I'll see you again soon.

They could not have asked for a better morning.

June 15th, 1878, dawned bright and clear a sparkling day.

A crowd had gathered at a racetrack in Palo Alto, California, land that would later become

Stanford University. In fact, the university's namesake,

Leland Stanford, was the reason everyone was there. Stanford had made his fortune as a railroad

magnet, then served as governor of California. But his true passion was horses.

And he'd gathered the crowd that day to settle a long standing debate among horse fanciers.

When horses gallop, do all four hooves ever leave the ground at once?

This was a contentious question, fodder for endless arguments at bars and racetracks,

among biologists and degenerate gamblers alike. Stanford insisted, yes, that all four hooves

do leave the ground, however fleeting. Unfortunately, the human eye cannot work fast enough

to follow a horse's churning legs. So after years of futile speculation, Stanford had hired a

photographer to determine the answer. Ostensibly, the crowd had gathered that June

morning to see whether Stanford was right. But if truth be told, many in the crowd were just

eager to see the photographer himself. Edward Moybridge had an international reputation for

taking beautiful pictures. He was also a technical wizard, and later a pioneer of the motion

picture technology that would make Hollywood possible. Strangely though, Moybridge's talents had

...