http://www.stacymehrfar.com/#/one/american%20palimpsests/2
12/18/09
12/1/09
Etienne Jules Marey
From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne-Jules_Marey
Étienne-Jules Marey (March 5, 1830 – May 21, 1904) was a French scientist and chronophotographer, born in Beaune, France. His work was significant in the development of cardiology, physical instrumentation, aviation, cinematography and the science of labor photography.
Marey found a way to record several phases of movements in one photo. He started by studying how blood moves in the body. Then he shifted to analyzing heart beats, respiration, muscles (myography), and movement of the body. To aid his studies he developed many instruments for precise measurements. For example, he was successful in selling an instrument called Sphygmographe to measure the pulse. In 1869 Marey constructed a very delicate artificial insect to show how an insect flies and to demonstrate the figure-8 shape it produced during movement of its wings. Then he became fascinated by movements of air and started to study bigger flying animals, like birds. He adopted and further developed animated photography into a separate field of chronophotography in the 1880s. His revolutionary idea was to record several phases of movement on one photographic surface. In 1890 he published a substantial volume entitled Le Vol des Oiseaux (“The Flight of Birds”), richly illustrated with photographs, drawings, and diagrams. He also created stunningly precise sculptures of various flying birds. He published La Machine Animale in 1873. The English photographer Eadweard Muybridge carried out his "Photographic Investigation" to prove that Marey was right when he wrote that a galloping horse for a brief moment had all four hooves off the ground.
Marey's chronophotographic gun was made in 1882. The instrument was capable of taking 12 consecutive frames a second (all the frames were recorded on the same picture). Using these pictures he studied horses, birds, dogs, sheep, donkeys, elephants, fish, microscopic creatures, molluscs, insects, reptiles, etc. Marey also conducted the famous study about cats landing always on their feet.
Marey also made movies. They were at a high speed (60 images per second) and of excellent image quality. His research on how to capture and display moving images helped the emerging field of cinematography.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
