Nicéphore Niépce
Encyclopedia
Nicéphore Niépce March 7, 1765 – July 5, 1833) was a French
inventor, most noted as one of the inventors of photography
and a pioneer
in the field.
He is most noted for producing the world's first known photograph
in 1825. Among Niépce's other inventions was the Pyréolophore
, the world's first 'internal combustion engine
', which he conceived, created, and developed with his older brother Claude
, finally receiving a patent on July 20, 1807 from the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte
, after successfully powering a boat upstream on the river Saône
.
, Saône-et-Loire
, where his father was a wealthy lawyer; this caused the whole family to flee the French Revolution
. His elder brother Claude (1763–1828) was also his collaborator in research and invention, but died half mad and broke in England, having squandered the family wealth in pursuit of non-opportunities for the Pyréolophore. He also had a sister and a younger brother called Bernard.
Nicéphore was baptised Joseph but adopted the name Nicéphore, in honour of Saint Nicephorus the ninth-century Patriarch of Constantinople
, while studying at the Oratorian college
in Angers
. At the college he learned science and the experimental method, rapidly achieving success and graduating to work as a professor of the college.
in post-revolutionary France. In 1795, Niepce resigned as administrator of Nice to pursue scientific research with his brother Claude. One source reports his resignation to have been forced due to his unpopularity.
, who was now living in Kew
, near London. Claude had descended in delirium and squandered much of the family fortune chasing inappropriate business opportunities for the Pyréolophore.
A cousin, Claude Félix Abel Niépce de Saint-Victor
, 1805–70, was a chemist and was the first to use albumen in photography. He also produced photographic engravings on steel.
Niépce took what is believed to be the world’s first photogravure etching, in 1822, of an engraving of Pope Pius VII, but the original was later destroyed when he attempted to duplicate it. The earliest surviving photogravure etchings by Niépce are of a 17th century engraving
of a man with a horse and of an engraving of a woman with a spinning wheel
. Niépce did not have a steady enough hand to trace the inverted images created by the camera obscura
, as was popular in his day, so he looked for a way to capture an image permanently. He experimented with lithography
, which led him in his attempt to take a photograph using a camera obscura. Niépce also experimented with silver chloride
, which darkens when exposed to light
, but eventually looked to bitumen, which he used in his first successful attempt at capturing nature photographically. He dissolved bitumen in lavender oil
, a solvent
often used in varnish
es, and coated the sheet of pewter with this light capturing mixture. He placed the sheet inside a camera obscura to capture the picture, and eight hours later removed it and washed it with lavender oil to remove the unexposed bitumen.
He began experimenting to set optical images in 1793. Some of his early experiments made images, but they faded very fast. Letters to his sister-in-law around 1816 indicate that he found a way to fix images on paper, but not prevent them from deterioration in light. The earliest known, surviving example of a Niépce photograph (or any other photograph) was created in 1825. Niépce called his process heliography
, which literally means "sun writing". Nevertheless, semiologist Roland Barthes, in a Spanish edition of his book "La chambre claire", "La cámara lúcida" (Paidós, Barcelona,1989) shows a picture from 1822, "Table ready", a foggy photo of a table set to be used for a meal.
Starting in 1829 he began collaborating on improved photographic processes with Louis Daguerre
, and together they developed the physautotype
, a process that used lavender oil. The partnership lasted until Niépce’s death in 1833. Daguerre continued with experimentation, eventually developing a process that little resembled that of Niépce. He named this the "Daguerréotype
", after himself. He managed in 1839 to get the government of France to purchase his invention on behalf of the people of France. The French government agreed to award Daguerre a yearly stipend of 6,000 Francs for the rest of his life, and to give the estate of Niépce 4,000 Francs yearly. This arrangement rankled with Niépce's son, who claimed Daguerre was reaping all the benefits of his father's work. In some ways, he was right—for a good many years, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce received little credit for his significant contribution to the development of photography
. Later historians have reclaimed Niépce from relative obscurity, and it is now generally recognized that his "heliographic" process was the first successful example of what we now call photography
: an image created on a light-sensitive surface, by the action of light.
, probably the world's first internal combustion engine to be built, was invented and patented by the Niépce brothers in 1807. This engine ran on controlled dust explosions of Lycopodium
and was installed on a boat that ran on the river Saône
. Ten years later, they were the first in the world to make an engine work with a fuel injection system. Coincidentally, in 1807 François Isaac de Rivaz
also constructed an engine
powered by internal combustion .
) that delivered water to the Palace of Versailles
from the Seine
river. The machine was built in Bougival
in 1684, from where it pumped water a distance of one kilometer distance and raised it 150 meters. The Niépce brothers conceived a new principle for the machine and improved it once more in 1809. The machine had undergone a lot of changes in many of its parts. The mechanisms in the system were more elaborated: its pistons joined to the advantage of being more precise, another one that is to create far less resistance. They tested it many times, and the result was that with a drop of 4 feet 4 inches, it lifted to 11 feet the 7 /24 of the water it loses. But in December 1809 they got a message that they had waited too long and the Emperor had taken on himself the decision to ask the engineer Perier
(1742–1818) to build a fire machine, also known as a steam engine, to operate the pumps at Marly.
in 1817. He built himself a model and called it the vélocipède
(fast foot) and caused quite a sensation on the local country roads. Niépce improved his machine with an adjustable saddle and it is now exhibited at the Niépce Museum. In a letter to his brother Nicéphore contemplated motorizing his machine.
crater Niepce
is named after him.
Niépce's photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras
, is on display in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
at the University of Texas at Austin
. The image was rediscovered in 1952 by historians Alison and Helmut Gernsheim
.
The Niépce Prize
has been awarded annually since 1955 to a professional photographer who has lived and worked in France for over 3 years. It was introduced in honour of Nièpce by Albert Plécy of the l'Association Gens d'Images.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
inventor, most noted as one of the inventors of photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
and a pioneer
History of photography
The first permanent photograph was an image produced in 1826 by the French inventor Joseph Nicéphore Niépce.- Etymology :The word photography derives from the Greek words phōs light, and gráphein, to write...
in the field.
He is most noted for producing the world's first known photograph
View from the Window at Le Gras
View from the Window at Le Gras was the first successful permanent photograph, created by Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 at Saint-Loup-de-Varennes....
in 1825. Among Niépce's other inventions was the Pyréolophore
Pyréolophore
The Pyréolophore was probably the world's first internal combustion engine. It was invented in the early 19th century in Chalon-sur-Saône, France, by the Niépce brothers: Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude....
, the world's first 'internal combustion engine
Internal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
', which he conceived, created, and developed with his older brother Claude
Claude Niépce
Claude Félix Abel Niépce was a French inventor and the older brother of the more celebrated Nicéphore Niépce. Claude traveled to England to try to find a sponsor for their internal combustion engine and died there...
, finally receiving a patent on July 20, 1807 from the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
, after successfully powering a boat upstream on the river Saône
Saône
The Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....
.
Early life
Niépce was born in Chalon-sur-SaôneChalon-sur-Saône
Chalon-sur-Saône is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the largest city in the department; however, the department capital is the smaller city of Mâcon....
, Saône-et-Loire
Saône-et-Loire
Saône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...
, where his father was a wealthy lawyer; this caused the whole family to flee the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. His elder brother Claude (1763–1828) was also his collaborator in research and invention, but died half mad and broke in England, having squandered the family wealth in pursuit of non-opportunities for the Pyréolophore. He also had a sister and a younger brother called Bernard.
Nicéphore was baptised Joseph but adopted the name Nicéphore, in honour of Saint Nicephorus the ninth-century Patriarch of Constantinople
Patriarch of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarch is the Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome – ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox communion, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....
, while studying at the Oratorian college
Oratory of Jesus
The Society of the Oratory of Jesus , also known as French Oratory, is a catholic Congregation founded in 1611 in Paris by Pierre de Bérulle...
in Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
. At the college he learned science and the experimental method, rapidly achieving success and graduating to work as a professor of the college.
Military career
Niépce served as a staff officer in the French army under Napoleon, spending a number of years in Italy and on the island of Sardinia, but ill-health forced him to resign, whereupon he married Agnes Romero and became the Administrator of the district of NiceNice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
in post-revolutionary France. In 1795, Niepce resigned as administrator of Nice to pursue scientific research with his brother Claude. One source reports his resignation to have been forced due to his unpopularity.
Scientific research
In 1801 the brothers returned to the family's estates in Chalon to continue their scientific research, and where they were united with their mother, their sister and their younger brother Bernard. Here they managed the family estate as independently wealthy gentlemen-farmers, raising beets and producing sugar.Claude Niépce
In 1827 Niépce journeyed to England to visit his seriously ill elder brother ClaudeClaude Niépce
Claude Félix Abel Niépce was a French inventor and the older brother of the more celebrated Nicéphore Niépce. Claude traveled to England to try to find a sponsor for their internal combustion engine and died there...
, who was now living in Kew
Kew
Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace...
, near London. Claude had descended in delirium and squandered much of the family fortune chasing inappropriate business opportunities for the Pyréolophore.
Death
Nicéphore Niépce died on July 5, 1833, financially ruined by the semi-delirious spending of Claude such that his grave in the cemetery of Saint-Loup de Varennes was financed by the municipality. The cemetery is near the family house where he had experimented and had made the world's first photographic image.Descendants
His son Isidore (1805–68) formed a partnership with Daguerre after his father's death and was granted a government pension in 1839 in return for disclosing the technical details of Nicéphore's heliogravure process.A cousin, Claude Félix Abel Niépce de Saint-Victor
Abel Niepce de Saint-Victor
Claude Félix Abel Niépce de Saint-Victor was a French photographic inventor. An army lieutenant and cousin of Nicéphore Niépce, he first experimented in 1847 with negatives made with albumen on glass, a method subsequently used by the Langenheim brothers for their lantern slides...
, 1805–70, was a chemist and was the first to use albumen in photography. He also produced photographic engravings on steel.
Photography
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
of a man with a horse and of an engraving of a woman with a spinning wheel
Spinning wheel
A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from natural or synthetic fibers. Spinning wheels appeared in Asia, probably in the 11th century, and very gradually replaced hand spinning with spindle and distaff...
. Niépce did not have a steady enough hand to trace the inverted images created by the camera obscura
Camera obscura
The camera obscura is an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen. It is used in drawing and for entertainment, and was one of the inventions that led to photography. The device consists of a box or room with a hole in one side...
, as was popular in his day, so he looked for a way to capture an image permanently. He experimented with lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
, which led him in his attempt to take a photograph using a camera obscura. Niépce also experimented with silver chloride
Silver chloride
Silver chloride is a chemical compound with the chemical formula AgCl. This white crystalline solid is well known for its low solubility in water . Upon illumination or heating, silver chloride converts to silver , which is signalled by greyish or purplish coloration to some samples...
, which darkens when exposed to light
Light
Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380 nanometres to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz...
, but eventually looked to bitumen, which he used in his first successful attempt at capturing nature photographically. He dissolved bitumen in lavender oil
Lavender oil
Lavender oil is an essential oil obtained by distillation from the flower spikes of certain species of lavender. Two forms are distinguished, lavender flower oil, a colorless oil, insoluble in water, having a density of 0.885 g/mL; and lavender spike oil, a distillate from the herb Lavandula...
, a solvent
Solvent
A solvent is a liquid, solid, or gas that dissolves another solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution that is soluble in a certain volume of solvent at a specified temperature...
often used in varnish
Varnish
Varnish is a transparent, hard, protective finish or film primarily used in wood finishing but also for other materials. Varnish is traditionally a combination of a drying oil, a resin, and a thinner or solvent. Varnish finishes are usually glossy but may be designed to produce satin or semi-gloss...
es, and coated the sheet of pewter with this light capturing mixture. He placed the sheet inside a camera obscura to capture the picture, and eight hours later removed it and washed it with lavender oil to remove the unexposed bitumen.
He began experimenting to set optical images in 1793. Some of his early experiments made images, but they faded very fast. Letters to his sister-in-law around 1816 indicate that he found a way to fix images on paper, but not prevent them from deterioration in light. The earliest known, surviving example of a Niépce photograph (or any other photograph) was created in 1825. Niépce called his process heliography
Heliography
Heliography is the photographic process invented by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce around 1822, which he used to make the earliest known permanent photograph from nature, View from the Window at Le Gras . The process used bitumen , as a coating on glass or metal, which hardened in relation to exposure to...
, which literally means "sun writing". Nevertheless, semiologist Roland Barthes, in a Spanish edition of his book "La chambre claire", "La cámara lúcida" (Paidós, Barcelona,1989) shows a picture from 1822, "Table ready", a foggy photo of a table set to be used for a meal.
Starting in 1829 he began collaborating on improved photographic processes with Louis Daguerre
Louis Daguerre
Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was a French artist and physicist, recognized for his invention of the daguerreotype process of photography.- Biography :...
, and together they developed the physautotype
Physautotype
The physautotype was a photographic process, invented by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce and Louis Daguerre in 1832, in which images were produced with the use of lavender dissolved in alcohol as a photographic agent. This solution, once applied to a silver plate, was then exposed in a camera obscura for...
, a process that used lavender oil. The partnership lasted until Niépce’s death in 1833. Daguerre continued with experimentation, eventually developing a process that little resembled that of Niépce. He named this the "Daguerréotype
Daguerreotype
The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate....
", after himself. He managed in 1839 to get the government of France to purchase his invention on behalf of the people of France. The French government agreed to award Daguerre a yearly stipend of 6,000 Francs for the rest of his life, and to give the estate of Niépce 4,000 Francs yearly. This arrangement rankled with Niépce's son, who claimed Daguerre was reaping all the benefits of his father's work. In some ways, he was right—for a good many years, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce received little credit for his significant contribution to the development of photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
. Later historians have reclaimed Niépce from relative obscurity, and it is now generally recognized that his "heliographic" process was the first successful example of what we now call photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
: an image created on a light-sensitive surface, by the action of light.
Pyréolophore
The PyréolophorePyréolophore
The Pyréolophore was probably the world's first internal combustion engine. It was invented in the early 19th century in Chalon-sur-Saône, France, by the Niépce brothers: Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude....
, probably the world's first internal combustion engine to be built, was invented and patented by the Niépce brothers in 1807. This engine ran on controlled dust explosions of Lycopodium
Lycopodium
Lycopodium is a genus of clubmosses, also known as ground pines or creeping cedar, in the family Lycopodiaceae, a family of fern-allies...
and was installed on a boat that ran on the river Saône
Saône
The Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....
. Ten years later, they were the first in the world to make an engine work with a fuel injection system. Coincidentally, in 1807 François Isaac de Rivaz
François Isaac de Rivaz
François Isaac de Rivaz was a French politician, chancellor, Deputé , entrepreneur and inventor. In retirement, as a Swiss citizen, circa 1807, he invented a hydrogen powered internal combustion engine with electric ignition...
also constructed an engine
De Rivaz engine
The de Rivaz engine was a pioneering reciprocating engine designed and developed from 1804 by the Franco-Swiss inventor Isaac de Rivaz. The engine has a claim to be the world's first internal combustion engine and contained some features of modern engines including spark ignition and the use of...
powered by internal combustion .
Marly Machine
In 1807 the imperial government opened a competition to receive projects of hydraulic machines to replace the original Marly Machine (located in Marly-le-RoiMarly-le-Roi
Marly-le-Roi is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the centre....
) that delivered water to the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
from the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
river. The machine was built in Bougival
Bougival
Bougival is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the center....
in 1684, from where it pumped water a distance of one kilometer distance and raised it 150 meters. The Niépce brothers conceived a new principle for the machine and improved it once more in 1809. The machine had undergone a lot of changes in many of its parts. The mechanisms in the system were more elaborated: its pistons joined to the advantage of being more precise, another one that is to create far less resistance. They tested it many times, and the result was that with a drop of 4 feet 4 inches, it lifted to 11 feet the 7 /24 of the water it loses. But in December 1809 they got a message that they had waited too long and the Emperor had taken on himself the decision to ask the engineer Perier
Périer
Périer or Perier may refer to :* Bonaventure des Périers , a French author* Casimir Perier * Claude Perier , a wealthy bourgeois, father of Casimir Pierre Perier, owner of Vizille chateau...
(1742–1818) to build a fire machine, also known as a steam engine, to operate the pumps at Marly.
Vélocipède
In 1818 Niépce became interested in the ancestor of the bicycle, a Laufmaschine invented by Karl von DraisKarl Drais
Karl Drais was a German inventor and invented the Laufmaschine , also later called the velocipede, draisine or "draisienne" , also nicknamed the dandy horse. This incorporated the two-wheeler principle that is basic to the bicycle and motorcycle and was the beginning of mechanized personal...
in 1817. He built himself a model and called it the vélocipède
Velocipede
Velocipede is an umbrella term for any human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle....
(fast foot) and caused quite a sensation on the local country roads. Niépce improved his machine with an adjustable saddle and it is now exhibited at the Niépce Museum. In a letter to his brother Nicéphore contemplated motorizing his machine.
Legacy and commemoration
The lunarMoon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
crater Niepce
Niepce (crater)
Niepce is a crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies in the high northern latitudes, just behind the north-northwestern limb. Less than a crater diameter to the north is the crater Merrill, and just to the west is Mezentsev. Farther to the south-southeast is Nöther.This is a worn crater...
is named after him.
Niépce's photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras
View from the Window at Le Gras
View from the Window at Le Gras was the first successful permanent photograph, created by Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 at Saint-Loup-de-Varennes....
, is on display in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
The Harry Ransom Center is a library and archive at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the United States and Europe. The Ransom Center houses 36 million literary manuscripts, 1 million rare books, 5 million photographs, and more...
at the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
. The image was rediscovered in 1952 by historians Alison and Helmut Gernsheim
Helmut Gernsheim
Helmut Erich Robert Kuno Gernsheim was a renowned historian of photography, collector, and photographer.-Biography:Born in Munich, Germany, Gernsheim studied art history at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich...
.
The Niépce Prize
Niépce Prize
The Niépce Prize has been awarded annually since 1955 to a professional photographer who has lived and worked in France for over 3 years and is younger than 45 years of age. It was introduced in honour of Joseph Nicéphore Nièpce by Albert Plécy for the l'Association Gens d'Images.- List of winners...
has been awarded annually since 1955 to a professional photographer who has lived and worked in France for over 3 years. It was introduced in honour of Nièpce by Albert Plécy of the l'Association Gens d'Images.
See also
- Timeline of photography technologyTimeline of photography technologyTimeline of photography technology* 1822 – Nicéphore Niépce takes the first fixed, permanent photograph, of an engraving of Pope Pius VII, using a non-lens contact-printing "heliographic process", but it was destroyed later; the earliest surviving example is from 1825.* 1826 – Nicéphore Niépce...
- Timeline of transportation technologyTimeline of transportation technology-Antiquity:*Stone Age – Dugout canoes*3500 BC – Wheeled carts are invented in Mesopotamia*3500 BC – River boats are invented *3100 BC – Horses are tamed and used for transport Botai Egypt *2000 BC – Chariots built by Indo-Iranians...
- History of the internal combustion engineHistory of the internal combustion engineAlthough various forms of internal combustion engines were developed before the 19th century, their use was hindered until the commercial drilling and production of petroleum began in the mid-1850s...
- François Isaac de RivazFrançois Isaac de RivazFrançois Isaac de Rivaz was a French politician, chancellor, Deputé , entrepreneur and inventor. In retirement, as a Swiss citizen, circa 1807, he invented a hydrogen powered internal combustion engine with electric ignition...
- Janine NiépceJanine NiépceJanine Niépce was a French photographer. A cousin of Nicéphore Niépce, the pioneer of photography, she was born into a family of winemakers in Burgundy....
photographer.