William Henry Fox Talbot
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The more I read about Talbot, the more fascinated I am. Although he is credited with being a founder of photography, I find myself virtually intrigued by the man himself and the era in which he lived. Henry, as I will call him, was born February 11, 1800, a time when America was still a baby country, less than 40 years old. It was a time when inventions and discovery seemed to be picking up speed. Ben Franklin had just discovered the lightning rod and the steam engine was the main source of technological power.
There is an interesting story behind Henry’s heritage, but to keep this narrative short, let it suffice that Henry’s family had plenty of wealth and influence, which enabled Henry to get a very good education, travel, and spend time throughout his life in experimentation and scientific research.
Henry’s exquisite mind led him to experimenting with light, lenses, and paper to obtain a sharply focused, but small, picture. He developed a way to soak paper in a modified solution of Silver Chloride that caused a reaction of light on paper, and then soak the paper in a different solution of alkaline iodide to fix the picture, or stop the light reaction. Later on he made further advances to reduce the exposure time.
Even though he had made these remarkable discoveries, Henry felt there was much more to be discovered; so continued his experiments and did not publish his results. However, French scientist Louis Daguerre beat him to the punch in 1839. Understandably upset, Henry then rushed to publicize his own work along with samples of his photographs and details of when his discoveries were made so that his work could be credited. He subsequently published several papers, many of which were not published. In 1840, Talbot patented a process he invented under the name calotype, “calo” meaning beautiful in Greek. Henry’s reputation suffered due to several battles he fought over patents, and finally in 1854 the court ruled that he was “the true inventor of photography” but “newer processes were outside his patent”.
Henry published the first photographic book in 1844 entitled The Pencil of Nature. This book had to be produced with real photographs, as reproducing technology wasn’t yet available. Henry died in his home from heart failure on September 17, 1877 at the age of 77. Henry is attributed for the development of the latent negative photographic image. In his lifetime, Henry Tablot wrote seven books, published nearly sixty scientific and mathematic articles, received many awards, and was a member of several elite organizations. This writer is in complete wonder at the incredible mind of Henry Talbot, a true pioneer whose legacy continues on today.
References
William Henry Fox Talbot by J J O’Connor and E F Robertson, http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Printonly/Talbot.html,
The Pencil of Nature by William Henry Fox Talbot: www.thepencilofnature.com
http://www.profotos.com/education/referencedesk/masters/masters/williamhenryfoxtalbot/williamhenryfoxtalbot.shtml
There is an interesting story behind Henry’s heritage, but to keep this narrative short, let it suffice that Henry’s family had plenty of wealth and influence, which enabled Henry to get a very good education, travel, and spend time throughout his life in experimentation and scientific research.
Henry’s exquisite mind led him to experimenting with light, lenses, and paper to obtain a sharply focused, but small, picture. He developed a way to soak paper in a modified solution of Silver Chloride that caused a reaction of light on paper, and then soak the paper in a different solution of alkaline iodide to fix the picture, or stop the light reaction. Later on he made further advances to reduce the exposure time.
Even though he had made these remarkable discoveries, Henry felt there was much more to be discovered; so continued his experiments and did not publish his results. However, French scientist Louis Daguerre beat him to the punch in 1839. Understandably upset, Henry then rushed to publicize his own work along with samples of his photographs and details of when his discoveries were made so that his work could be credited. He subsequently published several papers, many of which were not published. In 1840, Talbot patented a process he invented under the name calotype, “calo” meaning beautiful in Greek. Henry’s reputation suffered due to several battles he fought over patents, and finally in 1854 the court ruled that he was “the true inventor of photography” but “newer processes were outside his patent”.
Henry published the first photographic book in 1844 entitled The Pencil of Nature. This book had to be produced with real photographs, as reproducing technology wasn’t yet available. Henry died in his home from heart failure on September 17, 1877 at the age of 77. Henry is attributed for the development of the latent negative photographic image. In his lifetime, Henry Tablot wrote seven books, published nearly sixty scientific and mathematic articles, received many awards, and was a member of several elite organizations. This writer is in complete wonder at the incredible mind of Henry Talbot, a true pioneer whose legacy continues on today.
References
William Henry Fox Talbot by J J O’Connor and E F Robertson, http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Printonly/Talbot.html,
The Pencil of Nature by William Henry Fox Talbot: www.thepencilofnature.com
http://www.profotos.com/education/referencedesk/masters/masters/williamhenryfoxtalbot/williamhenryfoxtalbot.shtml