Part A :: William Henry Fox Talbot

William Henry Fox Talbot
• Was a British inventor and then opened up into the photography world
• Born February 11, 1800 Died September 17, 1877
• Invented Calotype process
• Largely took part in the development of photography as an artistic medium
• 1840’s work on photo-mechanical repro made way for the creation of the photoglyphic engraving process
• Known as a part of the development of commercial photography in Britain
• Usually is known by the name Henry instead of William
• Only child of William Davenport Talbot and Lady Elisabeth Fox Strangwaays
• He was educated at Rottingdean: at Harrow School and Trinity College in Cambridge
• Cambrige he was awarded Porson Prize In Classics in 1820
• 1821 Graduated as twelfth wrangler
• 1822-1872 communicated papers to the Royal Society mainly in mathematics
• Optical researches lead to his connection with photography
• “Some Experiments on Coloured Flame” was one of his articles in the Edinburgh Journal of Science in 1826 and in 1827 “Monochromatic Light”
• Then “Chemical Changes of Colur” in the Philosophical Magazine
• His invention of the calotype process began in 1834
• 1841 was when Henry first announced his discovery of the calotype or the talbotype process
• 1841 he also licensed Henry Collen the first Caloypist Professional
• 1842 a photographic discovery was shown in his The Pencil of Nature which was from 1844
• With the Pencil of Nature he won the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society
• Henry was also extremely active in Politics as a moderate Reformer
• Member of Parliament for chippenhame from 1823 to 1835 retired in 1840
• Devoted a lot of time to archaeology during his scientific researches
• One of the first decipherers of Cuneiform which were writings of Nineveh
• Wrote English Etymologies in 1846