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1 Talbot, William Henry Fox
SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics[br]b. 11 February 1800 Melbury, Englandd. 17 September 1877 Lacock, Wiltshire, England[br]English scientist, inventor of negative—positive photography and practicable photo engraving.[br]Educated at Harrow, where he first showed an interest in science, and at Cambridge, Talbot was an outstanding scholar and a formidable mathematician. He published over fifty scientific papers and took out twelve English patents. His interests outside the field of science were also wide and included Assyriology, etymology and the classics. He was briefly a Member of Parliament, but did not pursue a parliamentary career.Talbot's invention of photography arose out of his frustrating attempts to produce acceptable pencil sketches using popular artist's aids, the camera discura and camera lucida. From his experiments with the former he conceived the idea of placing on the screen a paper coated with silver salts so that the image would be captured chemically. During the spring of 1834 he made outline images of subjects such as leaves and flowers by placing them on sheets of sensitized paper and exposing them to sunlight. No camera was involved and the first images produced using an optical system were made with a solar microscope. It was only when he had devised a more sensitive paper that Talbot was able to make camera pictures; the earliest surviving camera negative dates from August 1835. From the beginning, Talbot noticed that the lights and shades of his images were reversed. During 1834 or 1835 he discovered that by placing this reversed image on another sheet of sensitized paper and again exposing it to sunlight, a picture was produced with lights and shades in the correct disposition. Talbot had discovered the basis of modern photography, the photographic negative, from which could be produced an unlimited number of positives. He did little further work until the announcement of Daguerre's process in 1839 prompted him to publish an account of his negative-positive process. Aware that his photogenic drawing process had many imperfections, Talbot plunged into further experiments and in September 1840, using a mixture incorporating a solution of gallic acid, discovered an invisible latent image that could be made visible by development. This improved calotype process dramatically shortened exposure times and allowed Talbot to take portraits. In 1841 he patented the process, an exercise that was later to cause controversy, and between 1844 and 1846 produced The Pencil of Nature, the world's first commercial photographically illustrated book.Concerned that some of his photographs were prone to fading, Talbot later began experiments to combine photography with printing and engraving. Using bichromated gelatine, he devised the first practicable method of photo engraving, which was patented as Photoglyphic engraving in October 1852. He later went on to use screens of gauze, muslin and finely powdered gum to break up the image into lines and dots, thus anticipating modern photomechanical processes.Talbot was described by contemporaries as the "Father of Photography" primarily in recognition of his discovery of the negative-positive process, but he also produced the first photomicrographs, took the first high-speed photographs with the aid of a spark from a Leyden jar, and is credited with proposing infra-red photography. He was a shy man and his misguided attempts to enforce his calotype patent made him many enemies. It was perhaps for this reason that he never received the formal recognition from the British nation that his family felt he deserved.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFRS March 1831. Royal Society Rumford Medal 1842. Grand Médaille d'Honneur, L'Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1855. Honorary Doctorate of Laws, Edinburgh University, 1863.Bibliography1839, "Some account of the art of photographic drawing", Royal Society Proceedings 4:120–1; Phil. Mag., XIV, 1839, pp. 19–21.8 February 1841, British patent no. 8842 (calotype process).1844–6, The Pencil of Nature, 6 parts, London (Talbot'a account of his invention can be found in the introduction; there is a facsimile edn, with an intro. by Beamont Newhall, New York, 1968.Further ReadingH.J.P.Arnold, 1977, William Henry Fox Talbot, London.D.B.Thomas, 1964, The First Negatives, London (a lucid concise account of Talbot's photograph work).J.Ward and S.Stevenson, 1986, Printed Light, Edinburgh (an essay on Talbot's invention and its reception).H.Gernsheim and A.Gernsheim, 1977, The History of Photography, London (a wider picture of Talbot, based primarily on secondary sources).JWBiographical history of technology > Talbot, William Henry Fox
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2 Fox Talbot, William Henry
Biographical history of technology > Fox Talbot, William Henry
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3 Talbot, Benjamin
SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy[br]b. 19 September 1864 Wellington, Shropshire, Englandd. 16 December 1947 Solberge Hall, Northallerton, Yorkshire, England[br]Talbot, William Henry Fox English steelmaker and businessman who introduced a technique for producing steel "continuously" in large tilting basic-lined open-hearth furnaces.[br]After spending some years at his father's Castle Ironworks and at Ebbw Vale Works, Talbot travelled to the USA in 1890 to become Superintendent of the Southern Iron and Steel Company of Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he initiated basic open-hearth steelmaking and a preliminary slag washing to remove silicon. In 1893 he moved to Pennsylvania as Steel Superintendent at the Pencoyd works; there, six years later, he began his "continuous" steelmaking process. Returning to Britain in 1900, Talbot marketed the technique: after ten years it was in successful use in Britain, continental Europe and the USA; it promoted the growth of steel production.Meanwhile its originator had joined the Cargo Fleet Iron Company Limited on Teesside, where he was made Managing Director in 1907. Twelve years later he assumed, in addition, the same position in the allied South Durham Steel and Iron Company Limited. While remaining Managing Director, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of both companies in 1925, and Chairman in 1940. The companies he controlled survived the depressed 1920s and 1930s and were significant contributors to British steel output, with a capacity of more than half a million tonnes per year.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsPresident, Iron and Steel Institute 1928, and (British) National Federation of Iron and Steel Manufacturers. Iron and Steel Institute (London) Bessemer Gold Medal 1908. Franklin Institute (Philadelphia), Elliott Cresson Gold Medal, and John Scott Medal 1908.Bibliography1900, "The open-hearth continuous steel process", Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute 57 (1):33–61.1903, "The development of the continuous open-hearth process", Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute 63(1):57–73.1905, "Segregation in steel ingots", Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute 68(2):204–23. 1913, "The production of sound steel by lateral compression of the ingot whilst its centre is liquid", Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute 87(1):30–55.Further ReadingG.Boyce, 1986, entry in Dictionary of Business Biography, Vol. V, ed. J.Jeremy, Butterworth.W.G.Willis, 1969, South Durham Steel and Iron Co. Ltd, South Durham Steel and Iron Company Ltd (includes a few pages specifically on Talbot, and a portrait photo). J.C.Carr and W.Taplin, 1962, History of the British Steel Industry, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press (mentions Talbot's business attitudes).JKA -
4 Herschel, John Frederick William
SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics[br]b. 7 March 1792 Slough, Englandd. 11 May 1871 Collingwood, England[br]English scientist who introduced "hypo" (thiosulphate) as a photographic fixative and discovered the blueprint process.[br]The only son of Sir William Herschel, the famous astronomer, John graduated from Cambridge in 1813 and went on to become a distinguished astronomer, mathematician and chemist. He left England in November 1833 to set up an observatory near Cape Town, South Africa, where he embarked on a study of the heavens in the southern hemisphere. He returned to England in the spring of 1838, and between 1850 and 1855 Herschel served as Master of the Royal Mint. He made several notable contributions to photography, perhaps the most important being his discovery in 1819 that hyposulphites (thiosulphates) would dissolve silver salts. He brought this property to the attention of W.H.F. Talbot, who in 1839 was using a common salt solution as a fixing agent for his early photographs. After trials, Talbot adopted "hypo", which was a far more effective fixative. It was soon adopted by other photographers and eventually became the standard photographic fixative, as it still is in the 1990s. After hearing of the first photographic process in January 1839, Herschel devised his own process within a week. In September 1839 he made the first photograph on glass. He is credited with introducing the words "positive", "negative" and "snapshot" to photography, and in 1842 he invented the cyanotype or "blueprint" process. This process was later to be widely adopted by engineers and architects for the reproduction of plans and technical drawings, a practice abandoned only in the late twentieth century.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsKnight of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order 1831. Baronet 1838. FRS 1813. Copley Medal 1821.Further ReadingDictionary of National Biography, 1968, Vol. IX, pp. 714–19.H.J.P.Arnold, 1977, William Henry Fox Talbot, London; Larry J.Schaaf, 1992, Out of the Shadows: Herschel, Talbot and the Invention of Photography, Newhaven and London (for details of his contributions to photography and his relationship with Talbot).JWBiographical history of technology > Herschel, John Frederick William
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5 Ross, Andrew
SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics[br]b. 1798 London, England d. 1859[br]English optical-instrument maker, founder of a photographic-lens making dynasty.[br]Apprenticed to the optical-instrument maker Gilbert at the age of 14, Ross rose to become Manager of the factory before leaving to found his own business in 1830. He soon earned a reputation for fine craftsmanship and was the first optician in England to produce achromatic microscope objectives. He had an early involvement with photography, perhaps before the public announcements in 1839, for he supplied lenses and instruments to Talbot. On hearing of Petzval's portrait lens, he made a highaperture portrait lens to his own design for the first professional calotypist, Henry Collan. It was unsuccessful, however, and Ross did little more photographic work of note, although his son Thomas and his son-in-law and one-time apprentice, John Henry Dallmeyer, made significant contributions to English photographic optics. Both Thomas and Dallmeyer were left large sums of money on Andrew's death, and independently they established successful businesses; they were to become the two most important suppliers of photographic lenses in England.[br]Further ReadingRudolf Kingslake, 1989, A History of the Photographic Lens, Boston (a brief biography of Ross).J.M.Eder, 1945, History of Photography, trans. E.Epstean, New York.H.J.P.Arnold, 1977, William Henry Fox Talbot, London.JW -
6 Claudet, Antoine François Jean
SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics[br]b. 12 August 1797 Franced. 27 December 1867 London, England[br]French pioneer photographer and photographic inventor in England.[br]He began his working life in banking but soon went into glassmaking and in 1829 he moved to London to open a glass warehouse. On hearing of the first practicable photographic processes in 1834, Claudet visited Paris, where he received instruction in the daguerreotype process from the inventor Daguerre, and purchased a licence to operate in England. On returning to London he began to sell daguerreotype views of Paris and Rome, but was soon taking and selling his own views of London. At this time exposures could take as long as thirty minutes and portraiture from life was impracticable. Claudet was fascinated by the possibilities of the daguerreotype and embarked on experiments to improve the process. In 1841 he published details of an accelerated process and took out a patent proposing the use of flat painted backgrounds and a red light in dark-rooms. In June of that year Claudet opened the second daguerreotype portrait studio in London, just three months after his rival, Richard Beard. He took stereoscopic photographs for Wheatstone as early as 1842, although it was not until the 1850s that stereoscopy became a major interest. He suggested and patented several improvements to viewers derived from Brewster's pattern.Claudet was also one of the first photographers to practise professionally Talbot's calotype process. He became a personal friend of Talbot, one of the few from whom the inventor was prepared to accept advice. Claudet died suddenly in London following an accident that occurred when he was alighting from an omnibus. A memoir produced shortly after his death lists over forty scientific papers relating to his researches into photography.[br]Principal Honours and DistinctionsFRS 1853.Further Reading"The late M.Claudet", 1868, Photographic News 12:3 (obituary)."A.Claudet, FRS, a memoir", 1968, (reprinted from The Scientific Review), London: British Association (a fulsome but valuable Victorian view of Claudet).H.Gernsheim and A.Gernsheim, 1969, The History of Photography, rev. edn, London (a comprehensive account of Claudet's daguerreotype work).H.J.P.Arnold, 1977, William Henry Fox Talbot, London (provides details of Claudet's relationship with Talbot).JWBiographical history of technology > Claudet, Antoine François Jean
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7 Pretsch, Paul
[br]b. 1808 Vienna, Austriad. 1873 Vienna, Austria[br]Austrian printer and inventor of photogalvanography, one of the earliest commercial photomechanical printing processes.[br]The son of a goldsmith, Pretsch learned the printing trade in Vienna, where he worked until 1831. He then took up a series of posts in Germany, Belgium and Holland before returning to Vienna, where in 1842 he joined the Imperial State Printing Office. The office was equipped with a photographic studio, and Pretsch was encouraged to explore applications of photography to printing and the graphic arts. In 1851 he was sent to London to take responsibility for the Austrian printing exhibits of the Great Exhibition. This event proved to be a significant international show case for photography and Pretsch saw a great number of recent innovations and made many useful contacts. On returning to Vienna, he began to develop a process for producing printing plates from photographs. Using Talbot's discovery that bichromated gelatine swells in water after exposure to light, he electrotyped the relief image obtained. In 1854 Pretsch resigned from his post in Vienna and travelled back to London, where he patented his process, calling it photogalvanography. He went on to form a business, the Photo-Galvano-Graphic Company, to print and market his pictures.The Photographic Manager of the company was the celebrated photographer Roger Fenton, recently returned from his exploits on the battlefields of the Crimea. In 1856 the company issued a large serial work, Photographic Art Treasures, illustrated with Pretsch's pictures, which created considerable interest. The venture did not prove a commercial success, however, and although further plates were made and issued, Fenton found other interests to pursue and Pretsch was left to try to apply some of his ideas to lithography. This too had no successful outcome, and in 1863 Pretsch returned to Vienna. He was reappointed to a post at the Imperial State Printing Office, but his health failed and he made no further progress with his processes.[br]Bibliography9 November 1854, British patent no. 2,373. 11 August 1855, British patent no. 1,824.Further ReadingJ.M.Eder, 1945, History of Photography, trans. E. Epstean, New York.H.Gernsheim and A.Gernsheim, 1969, The History of Photography, rev. edn, London. H.J.P.Arnold, 1977, William Henry Fox Talbot, London (an account of the relationship with Talbot's process).JW -
8 Photography, film and optics
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Ding HuanGabor, DennisKlic, KarolLippershey, HansMarton, LadislausTournachon, Gaspard FélixBiographical history of technology > Photography, film and optics
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9 Metallurgy
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10 Steam and internal combustion engines
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Giffard, Baptiste Henry JacquesHamilton, Harold LeePorta, Giovanni Battista dellaBiographical history of technology > Steam and internal combustion engines
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William Henry Fox Talbot — 1844 William Henry Fox Talbot (* 11. Februar 1800 in Melbury, Grafschaft Dorset, England; † 17. September 1877 in Lacock Abbey, Grafschaft Wiltshire, England) war ein Angehöriger der englischen Oberschicht, gut ausgebildet und erfolgreich auf… … Deutsch Wikipedia
William Henry Fox Talbot — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Talbot (homonymie). William Henry Fox Talbot en 1844 William Henry Fox Talbot (11 février 1800 17 septembre … Wikipédia en Français
William Henry Fox Talbot — noun English inventor and pioneer in photography who published the first book illustrated with photographs (1800 1877) • Syn: ↑Talbot, ↑Fox Talbot • Instance Hypernyms: ↑inventor, ↑discoverer, ↑artificer, ↑photographer, ↑lensman … Useful english dictionary
William Henry Fox Talbot — (11.12.1800 17.9.1877) Englischer Physiker und Chemiker. Entwickelte in den 30er Jahren des 19. Jahrhunderts ein fotografisches Verfahren, die Kalotypie, bei der ein Papiernegativ entstand, welches im Kontaktverfahren erstmals beliebig zu… … Das Lexikon aus „Bernie's Foto-Programm"
Henry Fox Talbot — William Henry Fox Talbot Pour les articles homonymes, voir Talbot (homonymie). William Henry Fox Talbot en 1844 William Henry Fox Talbot (11 février … Wikipédia en Français
Talbot, William Henry Fox — ► (1800 77) Físico y arqueólogo británico. Consiguió fijar sobre un papel la imagen dada por una cámara oscura (talbotipia). * * * (11 feb. 1800, Melbury Abbas, Dorset, Inglaterra–17 sep. 1877, Lacock Abbey, cerca de Chippenham, Wiltshire).… … Enciclopedia Universal
Talbot,William Henry Fox — Talbot, William Henry Fox. 1800 1877. British inventor and pioneer in photography who made photographic prints on paper treated with silver chloride (1838) and produced the first book illustrated with photographs (1844 1846). * * * … Universalium
William Fox Talbot — William Henry Fox Talbot 1844 William Henry Fox Talbot (* 11. Februar 1800 in Melbury, Grafschaft Dorset, England; † 17. September 1877 in Lacock Abbey, Grafschaft Wiltshire, England) war ein Angehöriger der englischen Oberschicht, gut… … Deutsch Wikipedia
William Fox Talbot — William Henry Fox Talbot (11 February 1800 – 17 September 1877), was the inventor of the negative / positive photographic process, the precursor to most photographic processes of the 19th and 20th centuries. He was also a noted photographer who… … Wikipedia
Fox Talbot — William Henry Fox Talbot Pour les articles homonymes, voir Talbot (homonymie). William Henry Fox Talbot en 1844 William Henry Fox Talbot (11 février … Wikipédia en Français
Fox talbot — William Henry Fox Talbot Pour les articles homonymes, voir Talbot (homonymie). William Henry Fox Talbot en 1844 William Henry Fox Talbot (11 février … Wikipédia en Français
