Frenchman (1765 - 1833) widely credited as the inventor of photography, being the first person to have created a 'permanent' image made directly by the action of light (a faint image on bituminized pewter plate in a camera obscura, following an eight hour exposure). His first picture (heliograph) was probably taken in 1822 - 1824, but was not until many years later that the 'invention' of photography was made public. It was, however, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre who is acknowledged as the first person to develop a more practical process (Daguerreotype), announced in 1839.