Portal:Physics/Selected picture/October 2007

Image credit: Nicéphore Niépce, circa 1826

Nicéphore Niépce began experimenting with processes to set optical images in 1793. Some of his early experiments produced images, but they faded rapidly. He was said to have first produced long lasting images in 1824. The earliest known surviving example of a Niépce photograph (or any other photograph) was created around 1826 (shown above). Niépce called his process "heliography", meaning "sun writing".