Henry Fox Talbot

National Gallery of Art

A British polymath equally adept in astronomy, chemistry, Egyptology, physics, and philosophy, William Henry Fox Talbot spent years inventing a photographic process that created paper negatives, which were then used to make positive prints — the conceptual basis of nearly all photography until the digital age.

"In Light of the Past: 25 Years of Photography at the National Gallery of Art" runs through July 26: http://1.usa.gov/1HUfi1M.

William Henry Fox Talbot, "A Scene in York: York Minster from Lop Lane," 1845, salted paper print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Edward J. Lenkin Fund, Melvin and Thelma Lenkin Fund and Stephen G. Stein Fund, 2011

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2. Henry Fox Talbot

   Inventor
3. William Henry Fox Talbot was a British scientist, inventor and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th centuries. Wikipedia
5. Born: February 11, 1800, Dorset, United Kingdom
6. Died: September 17, 1877, Lacock, United Kingdom