Talbot, William Henry Fox

Talbot, William Henry Fox
born Feb. 11, 1800, Melbury Abbas, Dorset, Eng.
died Sept. 17, 1877, Lacock Abbey, near Chippenham, Wiltshire

English chemist and pioneer photographer.

In 1840 he developed the calotype, an early photographic process that improved on the daguerreotype; it involved the use of a photographic negative from which multiple prints could be made. In 1835 he published his first article documenting a photographic discovery, that of the paper negative. His The Pencil of Nature (1844–46) was the first book with photographic illustrations. Talbot also published many articles on mathematics, astronomy, and physics.

* * *

▪ British chemist, linguist, and photographer

born Feb. 11, 1800, Melbury Abbas, Dorset, Eng.
died Sept. 17, 1877, Lacock Abbey, near Chippenham, Wiltshire, Eng.
 English chemist, linguist, archaeologist, and pioneer photographer. He is best known for his development of the calotype (q.v.), an early photographic process that was an improvement over the daguerreotype of (Daguerre, Louis-Jacques-Mandé) the French inventor L.-J.-M. Daguerre. Talbot's calotypes involved the use of a photographic negative, from which multiple prints could be made; had his method been announced but a few weeks earlier, he and not Daguerre would probably have been known as the founder of photography.

      Talbot was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge, and published many articles in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, and physics. He briefly served in Parliament (1833–34) and in 1835 published his first article documenting a photographic discovery, that of the paper negative. These so-called photogenic drawings were basically contact prints on light-sensitive paper, which unfortunately produced dark and spotty images. In 1840 he modified and improved this process and called it the calotype (later the talbotype). Unlike the original process, it used a much shorter exposure time and a development process following exposure. Talbot patented the process in 1841 and was reluctant to share his knowledge with others, which lost him many friends and much information. In 1842 Talbot received a medal from the British Royal Society for his experiments with the calotype.

      Talbot's The Pencil of Nature (1844–46), published in six installments, was the first book with photographic illustrations. Its 24 (of a proposed 50) plates document the beginnings of photography primarily through studies of art objects and architecture. In 1851 Talbot discovered a way of taking instantaneous photographs, and his “photolyphic engraving” (patented in 1852 and 1858), a method of using printable steel plates and muslin screens to achieve quality middle tones of photographs on printing plates, was the precursor to the development in the 1880s of the more successful halftone (halftone process) plates.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Talbot,William Henry Fox — Talbot, William Henry Fox. 1800 1877. British inventor and pioneer in photography who made photographic prints on paper treated with silver chloride (1838) and produced the first book illustrated with photographs (1844 1846). * * * …   Universalium

  • Talbot, William Henry Fox — ► (1800 77) Físico y arqueólogo británico. Consiguió fijar sobre un papel la imagen dada por una cámara oscura (talbotipia). * * * (11 feb. 1800, Melbury Abbas, Dorset, Inglaterra–17 sep. 1877, Lacock Abbey, cerca de Chippenham, Wiltshire).… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Talbot, William Henry Fox — (11.12.1800 17.9.1877) Englischer Physiker und Chemiker. Entwickelte in den 30er Jahren des 19. Jahrhunderts ein fotografisches Verfahren, die Kalotypie, bei der ein Papiernegativ entstand, welches im Kontaktverfahren erstmals beliebig zu… …   Das Lexikon aus „Bernie's Foto-Programm"

  • TALBOT, WILLIAM HENRY FOX —    one of the earliest experimenters and a discoverer in photography, born in Chippenham, which he represented in Parliament; was also one of the first to decipher the Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions (1800 1877) …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • William Henry Fox Talbot — 1844 William Henry Fox Talbot (* 11. Februar 1800 in Melbury, Grafschaft Dorset, England; † 17. September 1877 in Lacock Abbey, Grafschaft Wiltshire, England) war ein Angehöriger der englischen Oberschicht, gut ausgebildet und erfolgreich auf… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • William Henry Fox Talbot — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Talbot (homonymie). William Henry Fox Talbot en 1844 William Henry Fox Talbot (11 février 1800 17 septembre …   Wikipédia en Français

  • William Henry Fox Talbot — noun English inventor and pioneer in photography who published the first book illustrated with photographs (1800 1877) • Syn: ↑Talbot, ↑Fox Talbot • Instance Hypernyms: ↑inventor, ↑discoverer, ↑artificer, ↑photographer, ↑lensman …   Useful english dictionary

  • William Henry Fox Talbot — (11.12.1800 17.9.1877) Englischer Physiker und Chemiker. Entwickelte in den 30er Jahren des 19. Jahrhunderts ein fotografisches Verfahren, die Kalotypie, bei der ein Papiernegativ entstand, welches im Kontaktverfahren erstmals beliebig zu… …   Das Lexikon aus „Bernie's Foto-Programm"

  • Henry Fox Talbot — William Henry Fox Talbot Pour les articles homonymes, voir Talbot (homonymie). William Henry Fox Talbot en 1844 William Henry Fox Talbot (11 février …   Wikipédia en Français

  • William Henry Silvester — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Silvester. William Henry Silvester dit Martin Laroche (15 septembre 1814 – 10 novembre 1886) était un photographe anglais de la première heure qui travailla sur les calotypes et gagna un procès dans ce domaine… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”