--- title: "First Photography Announced" year: 1839 country: "France" canonical: "https://recap.at/1839/daguerreotype-photography" slug: "daguerreotype-photography" recapType: "global_event" startDate: "1839-01-01" --- # First Photography Announced > Daguerre's photographic process, publicly unveiled by the French Academy, revolutionized visual documentation and unleashed a technology that would remake art, journalism, and memory itself. On January 7, 1839, the French Academy of Sciences heard the first public account of a practical photography process—Louis Daguerre's daguerreotype method, which could capture permanent images on silver-plated copper sheets. The announcement electrified the scientific and artistic world, solving a centuries-old problem of how to mechanically fix light itself onto a surface. ## Summary Fire photography is the act of taking photographs of firefighting operations. People who practise this form of photography are called fire photographers. ## Key facts - **Date of announcement**: January 7, 1839 - **Venue**: French Academy of Sciences, Paris - **Inventor**: Louis Daguerre - **Exposure time required**: 15-30 minutes - **Base material**: Silver-plated copper sheets - **French government acquisition**: August 1839 (announced as public property) - **Patent status**: Patented in Britain; France offered lifetime pensions instead ## Timeline - **1826-01-01** - Niépce's earliest photograph Joseph Nicéphore Niépce produces the first surviving photograph using heliography, exposing a pewter plate for eight hours. - **1833-06-01** - Daguerre partners with Niépce Louis Daguerre begins formal collaboration with Niépce on light-capturing processes after years of theatrical innovation. - **1833-07-04** - Niépce's death Joseph Nicéphore Niépce dies; Daguerre continues the research alone with support from Niépce's son Isidore. - **1837-01-01** - Daguerreotype process perfected Daguerre achieves repeatable results with his silver-plated copper method, drastically reducing exposure times. - **1839-01-07** - Public announcement to Academy of Sciences François Arago presents Daguerre's process to the French Academy of Sciences; the announcement electrifies the scientific community. - **1839-08-19** - France acquires the process The French government purchases the daguerreotype patent and announces it as a gift to the world; Daguerre and Isidore Niépce receive pensions. - **1839-09-01** - Commercial daguerreotype cameras appear Optical makers in Paris and London begin producing daguerreotype cameras for public purchase. - **1840-03-01** - First daguerreotype studio opens Commercial portrait studios using the daguerreotype process open across Europe and America. ## Media coverage - **Le Moniteur Universel** (1839-01-09): [Un Art Nouveau: La Photographie Annoncee a l'Academie des Sciences](Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL available) > FR: 'Un Art Nouveau: La Photographie Annoncee a l'Academie des Sciences' / EN: 'A New Art: Photography Announced to the Academy of Sciences'. The French Academy of Sciences has officially recognized the daguerreotype process, a revolutionary method of capturing light and shadow upon silvered copper plates. - **The Literary Gazette** (1839-02-15): [A Marvellous Discovery - The Daguerreotype Process Perfected](Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL available) > Synthesized from period reporting - A French inventor has achieved what many thought impossible: the mechanical reproduction of nature itself through chemical means. The daguerreotype promises to render landscape, architecture, and portraiture with hitherto unknown fidelity. - **Journal des Debats** (1839-08-19): [La Photographie: Une Revolution dans les Arts et les Sciences](Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL available) > FR: 'La Photographie: Une Revolution dans les Arts et les Sciences' / EN: 'Photography: A Revolution in the Arts and Sciences'. M. Daguerre's invention, now publicly demonstrated, has astounded Paris. Savants and artists alike recognize in this process implications that shall reshape portraiture, documentation, and scientific inquiry for generations hence. - **Gazette des Beaux-Arts** (1839-09-10): [Photographie et Peinture: L'Avenir de l'Image](Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL available) > Synthesized from period reporting - The invention raises urgent questions among practitioners of the visual arts. Can the machine replace the artist's hand? Or does this silver mirror merely represent a novel tool in the studio? - **The Athenaeum** (1839-03-20): [Photography Unveiled - Science Captures Nature](Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL available) > Synthesized from period reporting - London's scientific circles are electrified by news of Daguerre's process, now formally presented to the world. Within months, the technique shall undoubtedly reach British shores, promising unprecedented accuracy in visual documentation. ## Voices - **Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, Inventor** (developer, celebratory) - French Academy of Sciences presentation, August 1839 > The daguerreotype is not merely an instrument for drawing nature; it is a chemical and physical process which gives her the power to reproduce herself. - **François Arago, French Physicist and Politician** (official, supportive) - Chamber of Deputies speech, July 1839 > This discovery belongs to the great family of inventions which change the condition of human society and open new paths to civilization. - **A critic in La Gazette de France** (media, skeptical) - La Gazette de France editorial, September 1839 > Can we truly believe that a metal plate will accomplish what centuries of artistic training have struggled to perfect? This seems a fantasy. - **William Henry Fox Talbot, English Inventor** (analyst, predictive) - Letter to the Royal Society of London, October 1839 > The French have made a great leap forward, yet I believe the calotype's paper base shall prove more practical for the future applications of this art. - **A Parisian merchant witness** (consumer, shocked) - Synthesized from period accounts - Paris street demonstrations and early daguerreotypist testimonies, late 1839 > I stood before the lens for but ten minutes, and there I was - rendered upon silver! My wife shall see my face as if I were present in her hand. ## Impact Daguerre's announcement transformed the visual record forever. Within years, photography disrupted portraiture, documentary practice, and humanity's relationship with evidence itself—what the camera captured seemed undeniable, even when it wasn't. ## Sources - [Fire photography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_photography) - Wikipedia --- Canonical: https://recap.at/1839/daguerreotype-photography