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William Henry Fox TalbotEnglish physicist, chemist and master of photography
Date of Birth: 11.02.1800
Country: ![]() |
Content:
- Biography of William Henry Fox Talbot
- Scientific Interests and Achievements
- The Invention of Photography
- The Calotype Process and Other Discoveries
- Talbot passed away on September 17, 1877 in Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire.
Biography of William Henry Fox Talbot
William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877), also known as Talbot, was an English physicist, chemist, and master of photography. He was born on February 11, 1800 in Melbury Abbas, Dorsetshire. Talbot initially received private education and later attended Harrow. He completed his studies at Trinity College, University of Cambridge.
Scientific Interests and Achievements
Throughout his life, Talbot pursued various scientific interests, including mathematics, botany, crystallography, and deciphering cuneiform texts. He constantly changed his scientific pursuits and made new discoveries in each field. He was elected as a member of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Linnean Society, and the Royal Society of London.
The Invention of Photography
The idea of the photographic process originated with Talbot in 1833. In 1834, he invented photosensitive paper, which he used to capture images. These images were then fixed with a solution of sodium chloride (common table salt) or potassium iodide. Talbot's early photographs were simple photograms, or copies, obtained through contact printing. He later combined a camera obscura with a microscope and natural lighting, resulting in a positive print from a negative.
In 1835, just two and a half weeks after the publication of French inventor L. Daguerre's discovery, Talbot demonstrated his "photogenic drawings" at the Royal Institution and soon published an article detailing the technology behind his photographic process.
The Calotype Process and Other Discoveries
In 1840, Talbot discovered that by sensitizing iodized photographic paper (paper coated with silver nitrate and exposed to a solution of potassium iodide) with gallic acid and then briefly exposing it in a camera, a latent image would appear which could be developed using a mixture of gallic acid and silver nitrate. Talbot named his invention the calotype. In 1843, he achieved positive prints with enlargement for the first time. That same year, he established a printing press to produce the printing plates for his book "The Pencil of Nature" (1844–1846), the world's first book illustrated with photographs.
In 1851, Talbot conducted the first photography with a very short exposure. The following year, he patented a method of photography with the overlay of a "screen" on the photographic plate, which became a precursor to the method of obtaining halftone images.
Talbot was also one of the scholars who deciphered the cuneiform text of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I (c. 1150 BCE) in 1857. He published around 70 translations of other Assyrian cuneiform texts and 50 articles on various topics in natural sciences and mathematics.