Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (1789-1851)
Louis Daguerre invented the process to permanently capture images on light-sensitive materials, thus ushering in the age of photography. A native of France, he first earned his living by painting scenery and grounds for theaters. He popularized panoramic paintings - large scale, accurate scenes on canvases on a continuous roll - which were exhibited in the Diorama. He often used a camera obscura, a device which reflected a scene onto a canvas that artists then traced. Daguerre sought to fix the image and he worked to invent a light-sensitive material which was permanent. Silver iodide was sensitive to light; mercury exposed the image and common salt fixed the image. He accepted a life-time pension from the French government in exchange for the process, which was publicized by the Academy of Sciences in Paris on August 19, 1939. Others rapidly made improvements to the photographic process by Daguerreotypes remained the principal medium of photography until the 1850s. Daguerreotypes consisted of a silver-coated brass plate exposed to iodide vapor. The plate was then exposed to light and developed using mercury vapor. The image was fixed using sodium thiosulfate and was mounted under glass to protect it.
Additional Information Can Be Found At...
Daguerre, Louis Jacques Mandé - Encarta Online Deluxe
A History of Photography, by Robert Leggat: DAGUERRE, Louis Jacques Mande
The Daguerreian
Society - text: Daguerre's Monument