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Humans have been trying to predict the future since the beginning of time. From the ancient Greeks consulting the Oracle of Delphi to kings from the Shang Dynasty turning to oracle bones, people have tried to predict everything from the weather to success on the battlefield.In these initial forecasts people used their judgement and previous experiences to observe trends and patterns, which made their reliability difficult to assess and reproduce.

Eadweard Muybridge’s “Animal Locomotion,” part of the Muybridge collection at Penn, is one of the earliest attempts to use photography as a scientific tool.