Born on November 18, 1789, Louis J. M. Daguerre began his career as an artist, serving first as an apprentice to the chief designer of the Paris Opera and later working for nine years as an assistant to the Opera's panorama painter. In 1814 he exhibited his work at the Salon and later worked as an independent stage designer. He cofounded the Diorama, a means of entertainment based on enormous paintings on semi-transparent linen through which light was transmitted and reflected. The lighting could be manipulated to represent changes of seasons or times of day, and the realistic effects captivated audiences.

The simple camera obscura ("dark room") or pinhole camera, through which light falling through a small opening could be directed onto a screen to create a precise image of something outside the box or room, helped spur Daguerre's interest in chemically fixing images. How, he wondered, could the camera obscura...