Who is William H. Fox Talbot from On Photography and what is their importance?

William H. Fox Talbot (1800-1877) was the English inventor of the negative-positive photographic process, patented in 1841, which ultimately proved to be the precursor to most modern photographic processes. Fox Talbot's invention relied heavily on prior work completed by others. Fox Talbot also created photographic reproduction techniques which led to photogravure. In addition, he was himself a noted photographer. Fox Talbot was a competitor to Daguerre and their processes, though similar in final results, were different in execution.