Skip to main content

Daguerre's Daguerreotype

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American



On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.


An image of an inventor, captured with his own invention:

Louis Daguerre, a pioneer in photographic chemistry, would have been 224 years old today.

Not as though he would have lived anywhere near that long. His daguerreotypes involved curing silver iodine films with heated mercury vapor, a technique not for those squeamish about heavy metal poisoning. The daguerreotype became the first truly widespread method for permanently fixing a projected image.

Alex Wild is Curator of Entomology at the University of Texas at Austin, where he studies the evolutionary history of ants. In 2003 he founded a photography business as an aesthetic complement to his scientific work, and his natural history photographs appear in numerous museums, books and media outlets.

More by Alex Wild