Talbot, William Henry Fox

(born Feb. 11, 1800, Melbury Abbas, Dorset, Eng.—died Sept. 17, 1877, Lacock Abbey, near Chippenham, Wiltshire) English chemist and pioneer photographer. In 1840 he developed the calotype, an early photographic process that improved on the daguerreotype; it involved the use of a photographic negative from which multiple prints could be made. In 1835 he published his first article documenting a photographic discovery, that of the paper negative. His The Pencil of Nature (1844–46) was the first book with photographic illustrations. Talbot also published many articles on mathematics, astronomy, and physics.