The camera was first invented by the French physicist Daguerre in 1838.
In 1838, the French physicist Daguerre was studying methods to retain images on objects. , but after much research, we still can’t figure it out. One day, he suddenly found an image left on the object, so he removed the nearby chemicals one by one to see what caused this phenomenon. He found out: the "big hero" was actually a thermometer. The mercury left behind after the break - photography was born.
Daguerre's daguerreotype method used a steel plate coated with silver iodide to be exposed in a dark box, then developed with mercury vapor, and then fixed with ordinary salt. The result obtained by this method is actually a metal negative image, but it is very clear and can be preserved permanently. Since exposure takes about 20 to 30 minutes, early photography mostly shot still life, landscapes and portraits.
On August 19, 1839, at a joint meeting of the French Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Fine Arts, the French government announced that it would give up the patent on the invention of daguerreotype and made it public. People usually mark this day as the beginning of photography.
As early as 1838, Daguerre wanted to publish and sell his photography. After several efforts, Daguerre finally turned to Arago, the permanent secretary of the French Academy of Sciences, astronomer and member of Congress, and received his appreciation. Arago was the first person to see that "the invention of photography would make the greatest contribution to the progress of art and science", and he was also the first person to suggest and promote the acquisition of the rights to the invention of photography by the French government.
France's Nielps was also a collaborator of Daguerre. He was 4 years older than Daguerre and died of illness 6 years before Daguerre's daguerreotype was announced.
The British inventor Carl Potter was the pioneer of the transition from negative to positive film. In 1835, he began to try drawings coated with silver chloride or silver nitrate as photosensitive materials, taking negative images in a camera, and then using sunlight to make impressions. He named his method "Caro Photography". After the news of Daguerre's invention of daguerreotype was announced, he raised the issue of priority of invention, but it was too late.
Daguerre's daguerreotype photography absorbed the results of people's long-term exploration in this area. Thirteen years before he invented the daguerreotype, Nirpus took the world's first permanent photograph, "Godsworth." Nilps applied white asphalt, which hardens after exposure to light, on a tin alloy plate and exposed it for up to eight hours. His invention failed to be popularized due to the long exposure time and blurry images.
Therefore, we can say that the invention of photography is actually a process of finding the most ideal method of recording images.