Nicephore Niepce
(From Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia)
Joseph
Nicéphore Niépce (March 7, 1765 – July 5, 1833) was a French inventor,
most noted as the inventor of photography and a pioneer in the field. He
is well-known for taking some of the earliest photographs, dating to the
1820s.
Joseph Niépce was born on 7 March 1765 in Chalon-sur-Saône, France. He
created the first permanent photograph, of the exterior of his home,
around 1826. The photograph was made using a camera obscura and a sheet of
pewter coated with bitumen of Judea, an asphalt that when exposed to
light, hardened permanently. This first photograph was captured during an
eight hour exposure, taking so much time that the sun passed overhead and
thus illuminating both sides of the courtyard.
Niépce did not have a steady enough hand to trace the inverted images
created by the camera obscura, as was popular in his day, so he looked for
a way to capture an image permanently. He experimented with lithography,
which led him in his attempt to take a photograph using a camera obscura.
Niépce also experimented with silver chloride, which hardens when exposed
to light, but eventually looked to the bitumen, which he used in his first
successful attempt at capturing nature photographically. He dissolved the
bitumen in lavender oil, a solvent often used in varnishes, and coated the
sheet of pewter with this light capturing mixture, he placed the sheet
inside a camera obscura to capture the picture, and eight hours later
removed it and washed it with lavender oil to remove the unexposed
bitumen.
He began experimenting to set optical images in 1793. Some of his early
experiments made images, but they faded very fast. It was said that he
made the first long lasting images in 1824. The earliest known example of
a Niépce photograph (or any other photograph) was created in June or July
of 1827 or 1826, according to some information. Niépce called his process
heliography, which literally means "sun writing".
Starting in 1829 he began collaborating on improved photographic processes
with Louis Daguerre, and together they developed the physautotype, a
process that used lavender oil. The partnership lasted until Niépce’s
death in 1833. At this point Daguerre continued with experimentation, and
in 1839 revealed to the public his new process for taking pictures, which
he called the Daguerreotype, after himself, and for a good many years
Niépce received no credit for what was essentially his invention. Niépce’s
son eventually fought for and won his father's right to be credited for
this invention, but Niépce’s name was never as well known as was
Daguerre’s.
In 2002, an earlier remaining photograph which had been taken by Niépce
was found in a French photograph collection. The photograph was found to
been taken in 1825, and it was an image of an engraving of a young boy
leading a horse into a stable. The photograph itself later sold for
450,000 euros at an auction.
