Fox Talbot, William Henry (1800-1877), was a British scientist who invented the negative-positive system in photography. He also did pioneer work in high-speed photography and etching with photographs.
Fox Talbot was born in Lacock, Wiltshire, England, and educated at Harrow School and Cambridge University. He entered British Parliament in 1833 but resigned a year later. By 1835, he had devised the negative-positive system, on which photography is still based. In 1840, after exploring the light sensitivities of silver-based chemicals, Fox Talbot produced an image that could be printed on silver chloride paper. Between 1844 and 1846, Fox Talbot published The Pencil of Nature, the first book to be illustrated with photographs. Fox Talbot was also an accomplished mathematician.
