Google is celebrating today the 224th birth anniversary of Louis Daguerre, the French physicist and artist responsible for inventing the daguerreotype process of photography.
The daguerreotype was the world’s first photographic process to be successful commercially.
He was born in Cormeilles-en-Parisis, Val-d’Oise, France. He was an apprentice of French panorama painter Pierre Prévost, and became a successful designer for the theater.
After the world’s first permanent photograph was made by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1822, the two partnered until Niépce’s untimely death in 1833. Niépce has been trying to build the first daguerreotype since 1814.
In 1839, Daguerre announced that after years of heavy experimentation and testing, he has finally perfected the Daguerreotype. He announced the process with the French Academy of Sciences on January 7 1839. The French government then acquired Daguerre’s patent, and on August 19, 1939, it announced that it was a gift “Free to the World.”
Daguerreotypes are usually portraits that take several minutes to take. Subjects are required to remain still for an extended period of time to have full exposure.
The first photograph of a person was taken by Daguerre in 1838 in Paris. The photo, which was named Boulevard du Temple, shows a street that has no traffic in it, which is because of the long exposure time.
Google celebrates occasions and significant dates with customized homepage dedicated to an event or a person.
What do you think of today’s Google Doodle?
