Watch a movie projected onto CLOUDS: Lasers fitted to a plane beam a galloping horse into the sky. Designers were inspired by Eadweard Muybridge's Zoopraxiscope ...

The zoopraxiscope. The zoopraxiscope, meaning life, movement and vision, was invented by Eadweard Muybridge in 1879 and was one of the first moving image projectors in the world.

His first zoopraxiscope was a lashed–together affair, made from bits of recycled technology, and a $35, 2-watt blue laser bought on eBay.

The zoopraxiscope. The zoopraxiscope, meaning life, movement and vision, was invented by Eadweard Muybridge in 1879 and was one of the first moving image projectors in the world.

PROF. MUYBRIDGE'S EXPLANATION OF HIS DISCOVERIES THROUGH HIS ZOOPRAXISCOPE. Share full article. Nov. 18, 1882. Credit... The New York Times Archives.

The zoopraxiscope captured evanescence, replaying tiny moments of everyday life so we could see them in a new way. And this is precisely why animated GIFs are still popular today.

Along with maker Aaron Nielson and scientist Mike Nix, the three developed a laser version of the zoopraxiscope after having failed using a converted 16 mm cine projector to get the job done.

Eadweard Muybridge is the subject of today's Google Doodle. In the process of photographing galloping horses, Muybridge invented the Zoopraxiscope, the forerunner to the motion picture projector.

Muybridge's zoopraxiscope projected a series of images, which were printed on a rotating glass disc, in successive phases of movement. Muybridge meets Edison ...