Wikinventia — Atlas of discoveries and inventions · Industrial Age

First permanent photograph — Nicéphore Niépce

~1826 AD · Transmission: Silenced
TechnologyMethodFrench

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce produced around 1826–1827 the first known permanent photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras, using a process he called heliography: a pewter plate coated with Bitumen of Judea exposed for hours in a camera obscura. He unsuccessfully tried to get the Royal Society of London to recognize the invention in 1827. He died in 1833, with his contributions — as the Harry Ransom Center notes — "largely unrecognized." His partner Daguerre perfected the process and presented it publicly in 1839 under his own name, receiving recognition and a state pension. The word "photography" and the popular history of the invention remained linked to Daguerre for over a century.

Historical regionFrance — Chalon-sur-Saône
Primary sourceView from the Window at Le Gras (c. 1826–1827, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas)
Original languageFrench
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