Niepce, Joseph Nicéphore (1765–1833)

French pioneer of photography. Niepce invented heliography, a precursor of photography that fixed images onto pewter plates coated with pitch and required eight-hour exposures. He produced the world's first photograph from nature in 1826 and later collaborated with Daguerre on the faster daguerreotype process.

Niepce was born in Chalon-sur-Saône and became administrator of Nice 1795. From 1801 he devoted himself to research.

The first photograph was a positive image, a view from Niepce's attic bedroom. The image was captured, after an eight-hour exposure, in a camera obscura on a metal plate coated with light-sensitive bitumen. The plate has survived and is to be found in the University of Texas.