Nicéphore Niépce

Nicéphore Niépce was a French inventor, most known for the first taken permanent photograph.

He and his brother, Claude Niépce, also have found the "Pyréolophore". That is a internal combustion engine, which runs on controlled dust explosions. He took his first photograph  in 1822 from Pope Pius Vll, but later it got destroyed, because he tried to duplicate it.

Joseph  Nicéphore Niépce, 1759

View from the window at Le Gras, 1826

In 1826 he took this permanent photograph, viewing out of his window.
It is the first image, which survived. The image is called "Le Gras" and was taken in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes. It took 8 hours to expose and shows buildings on both sides. Niépce took this image with a camera obscura, which was focused on a sheet 20 x 25 cm oil treated bitumen (Asphalt). The camera obscura is kind of a dark tuberous which has a small hole, where light can come through. The oil treated bitumen- sheet catches the light and prints it upside- down.
The image is kept at the University of Texas in Austin, today.