Google Doodle pays tribute to daguerreotype inventor

Search giant Google paid tribute to the inventor of the world's first commercially successful photographic process with another patented Google Doodle. The Doodle depicted what appeared to be a photograph of a family, with five of the letters in "Google" replacing the heads, and the "l" depicted as a lamp.

Hovering the mouse or pointer over the Doodle reveals the reason for the photograph-themed drawing: Louis Daguerre's 224th birth anniversary. As in the past, visitors who see the Doodle on Google's home page (www.google.com) and click on it are taken to a search results page for Daguerre. The Notable Names Database (NNDB) website said Daguerre, whose full name is Louis Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, was born November 18, 1787. It said Daguerre was born in Cormeilles, France and died of heart failure on July 10, 1851 in Bry-sur-Marne, France. Daguerre, credited for inventing the Daguerreotype photography, was at first occupied as an inland revenue officer, but soon took to scene painting for the opera. He assisted Pierre Prévost in the execution of panoramic views of Rome, Naples, London, Jerusalem, and Athens. In 1822, in conjunction with Bouton, he opened at Paris the Diorama, an exhibition of pictorial views, the effect of which was heightened by changes in the light thrown upon them. He opened a similar establishment in Regent's Park, London. But on March 3, 1839, the Diorama was destroyed by fire. Daguerreotype photographic process Daguerre worked with Nicéphore Niépce worked on a photographic process until Niepce's death in 1833. Continuing his experiments, Daguerre eventually discovered the process that would soon be named after him. The process has five operations:

• the polishing of the silver plate
• the coating of the plate with iodide of silver by submitting it for about 20 minutes to the action of iodine vapor
• the projection of the image of the object upon the golden-colored iodized surface
• the development of the latent image by means of the vapor of mercury
• the fixing of the picture by immersing the plate in a solution of sodium "hyposulphite" (sodium thiosulphate).

— LBG, GMA News