Louis Daguerre

French scientist, artist and photographer (1787–1851)

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Fame65.0
Momentum11.5
Scientists rank#172
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Lived 1787–1851, aged 64France

France ScientistsScientist

Wikipedia
80 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1787–1851
Aged 64
Awards
4
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

He gave the nineteenth century its first clear reflection: a silver-plated mirror that could trap a face, a street, a moment, and hold it still forever.

Biography

About

Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was born on 18 November 1787 in France, and spent his early career as a painter and scenic designer before turning his attention to the diorama theatre, a popular illusion that layered light and painted transparencies. The leap to photography came through his invention of the daguerreotype process, a method that fixed images onto silver-plated copper and made him one of the fathers of photography. The technique bore his name and changed how the world saw itself, turning fleeting light into permanent record. He died on 10 July 1851, decades before the daguerreotype…

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