Who invented the daguerreotype?

daguerreotype of the Moon

President George Washington never had his picture taken. He had it painted many times, but he lived before the days of photographs.

The daguerreotype was an early kind of photograph. Instead of a film or a glass plate, a sheet of copper was used. It was coated with a mixture of chemicals just as fims and plates are now.

The name "daguerreotype" comes from the name of the Frenchman who invented it. He was Louis Daguerre, who was born the year Washington became president.

Daguerreotypes were not very good pictures. People soon found ways of improving on them. We owe the beautiful photographs  we have now partly to Daguerre.

------------

Daguerreotype continues to be practiced by enthusiastic photographers to this day, although in much smaller numbers; there are thought to be fewer than 100 worldwide.