Louis Le Prince

Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince ( born August 28, 1842 in Metz, † on September 16, 1890 ( lost) ) was a French chemist, inventor and film pioneer, the first footage of the history conducted in 1888 with a film camera.

Biography

Le Prince was born as the son of an officer of the French army of Louis Abraham Ambroise Leprince (September 16, 1799 - August 2, 1855 ), who was a friend of Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre Photo pioneer. Through him, Le Prince was already familiar with the techniques of early photography. He purportedly studied chemistry and physics at the University of Leipzig, where he became friends with the English engineer John Whitley. Whitley invited Le Prince 1866 to Leeds, who worked there as an engineer in the operation of the Whitley family. 1869 married Le Prince Whitley's sister Elizabeth. Together with her, he founded in 1871, the Leeds Technical School of Arts.

1881 Le Prince went with his family to New York to work as a salesman for Whitley. When the contract ended with Whitley, was Le Prince in New York and began working as an agent for a number of French artists. He also continued experiments continued recording motion pictures.

Inspired by the work of Eadweard Muybridge and other pioneers in 1886, he developed a camera that allowed the recording of moving images with the help of 16 lenses. The disadvantage was that each picture was taken from a slightly different perspective. Le Prince filed a patent for this camera, it was finally granted in 1888.

1887 Le Prince went back without his family to Leeds. There he developed a camera with only a taking lens, for which he used as a film marketed by George Eastman roll film on a paper basis (stripping film). The patent for this camera has been granted to him in October, 1888. This month he filmed images of the family in Whitley home garden in Roundhay ( Roundhay Garden Scene ) and recordings from the traffic on the Leeds Bridge ( Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge ). Both films still exist photographic copies. In the same year he obtained the U.S. citizenship.

1890 Le Prince was planning his return to New York to present its camera and his films. On September 12, 1890 he wanted to travel from Bourges to Dijon, to visit his brother there. According to this is to have Le Prince boarded a train to Paris on the 16th, to meet with friends from England. But he never arrived in Paris and was gone without a trace despite intensive search of his family and the police. What exactly was going on, is still unclear.

The University of Leeds named its Center for Film, Photography & Television by Louis Le Prince.

For some years there is a replica of its 1888 cameras.