Niépce, Nicéphore

Niépce, (Joseph-)Nicéphore

(born March 7, 1765, Chalon-sur-Saône, France—died July 5, 1833, Chalon-sur-Saône) French inventor. In 1807 Niépce and his brother invented an internal-combustion engine (fueled with lycopodium powder). In 1813 he began to research lithography. He is best remembered for his experiments with photography, which he called heliography. In 1826–27, using a camera, he made a view from his workroom window on a pewter plate—the first permanently fixed image from nature. In 1829 he began a partnership with Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre to perfect and exploit heliography, but he died before they had achieved any further advance.