This Happened
This Happened—January 9: Photography Is Born
The daguerreotype photo process, which gave the first photograph of a person, is announced at the French Academy of Science on this date in 1839.
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What is a daguerreotype?
Invented by Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, the daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process (1839-1860) in the history of photography. Each daguerreotype is a unique image on a silvered copper plate.
Why was the daguerreotype so important?
The daguerreotype ushered in a new age of pictorial possibility. Before it, experiences could only be captured after hours of painting, drawing or writing, and even then, it wasn’t done perfectly. Daguerreotypes gave people the ability to preserve their history.
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