Image and sound
Photography and the Technical Recording of the Image
How the camera obscura and silver chemistry produced photography in the nineteenth century, from Niépce and Daguerre to roll film and the digital sensor.
Technology area
Image and sound
For a long time, fixing an image or keeping a sound and playing it back later was impossible. The articles in this area tell how chemical, mechanical, and electronic processes made it possible to record light and moving air, and how that transformed memory, work, and entertainment.
Articles
Image and sound
The History of Sound Recording and Reproduction
From the 1857 phonautograph to Edison's phonograph, Berliner's disc, magnetic tape, the cassette, the CD, and the MP3: the technical path of recorded sound.
Image and sound
The Technical Development of Cinema
The technical history of cinema, from optical toys and chronophotography to the 1895 projectors, synchronized sound, Technicolor, and the problem of film preservation.
Image and sound
How Television Developed
The technical history of television, from Nipkow and Baird's mechanical scanning to electronic tubes, patent disputes, color, satellites, Brazilian TV, and digital broadcasting.
Milestones
- 1839
Daguerreotype announced
Louis Daguerre's process is presented publicly in France, following earlier experiments such as those of Nicéphore Niépce.
Read: Photography → - 1877
Edison's phonograph
Thomas Edison presents a device that can record and play back sound. The 1857 phonautograph had only recorded sound visually.
Read: Sound recording → - 1895
Public film screenings
The Lumière brothers hold a paid screening in Paris on December 28, 1895. Other inventors demonstrated systems in the same years.
Read: Cinema → - 1936
Regular television service in London
The BBC begins a regular television service, one of the first in the world.
Read: Television →