LIPPMANN, Gabriel. A suite of papers on breakthrough research establishing color photograpy, 1891-1906, all published in the Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences.
Lippmann was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for this accomplishment (“"for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference") in 1908 (the only Nobel awarded for work in photography).
- (1) “La photographie des couleurs" in Comptes Rendus , Vol. 112, No. 5, February 2, 1891, pp. 274-275;
- (2)"Sur la photographie des couleurs [deuxième note]" in CR Vol. 114, No. 17, April 25, 1892, pp. 961-962;
- (3) "Photographies colorées du spectre sur albumine et sur gélatine bichromatées" in CR Vol. 115, No. 17 October 24, 1892, p. 575;
- (4) "Sur la theorie de la photographie des couleurs simples et composees par la methode interferentielle" in CR Vol. 118, No. 3, January 15, 1894, pp. 92-102
- (5)“De divers principes sur lesquels on peut fonder la photographie direct des couleurs...” in CR Vol 130, 1900, pp 278 (this being a very brief one-paragraph note);
- (6) “Remarques generales sur la photographie interferentielles des coulleurs”, in CR Vol 143, No. 5, July 30 1906, pp 273-4.
Of the 80+ papers Lippmann published in the CR for the 1885-1910 period this is the extent of his publications there on color photography, save for one short note that appears in volume 140--unfortunately that one is the very next article in the issue bearing the famous Poincare “relativity” paper of 1905.
All six are offered in their complete weekly issues, all extracted from larger bound volumes of the CR. The issues from volumes 112, 115, and 143 are offered with their original wrappers. GOOD copies. $950
“Gabriel Lippmann, professor of mathematical physics at the Sorbonne invented, demonstrated and mathematically formulated the process of interference colour photography, also known as interferential photography, or Lippmann photography, in the years 1891-1894...Few photographers today are familiar with the name Gabriel Lippmann (1845-1921), even fewer have seen a Lippmann colour photograph. Lippmann was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of Interference Photography, an early colour technique exploiting the phenomenon of optical standing waves. Lippmann’s prize represents the only time this prestigious award has been given for a photographic invention “--”Lippmann Colour Photography”, Dr. Hans I. Bjelkhagen, alternativephotography.com
“In 1891, Professor Gabriel Lippmann demonstrated to the French Académie des Sciences interference colour photographs of the spectrum and of stained glass windows, taken by a modification of Wiener’s method. An exceedingly fine grained, virtually transparent emulsion of silver bromide in an albumen coating on a glass plate was exposed in contact with a film of mercury, with the glass plate towards the lens. The mercury, in optical contact with the emulsion, reflected light which had passed through the emulsion back on itself, producing the standing waves and layered exposure predicted by Zenker. The developed plate appeared to be a conventional negative by transmitted light, but when viewed at a suitable angle, by reflected light the image appeared as a brilliantly coloured positive.”--(Coe, Brian (1978): Colour Photography – The first hundred years 1840-1940.
“One of our most distinguished physicists, M. Gabriel Lippmann, Member of the Institute and Professor in the Faculty of Sciences, has accomplished a memorable experiment in photographing the solar spectrum. At the meeting of the Academy of Sciences M. Lippmann presented to his, colleagues several photographs, of the solar spectrum, with the colors fixed upon the sensitized plate with their exact sheadings and brilliancy... The way so brilliantly opened by M. Lippmann must lead to important work, and the first results of the discoverer, which we are happy to be able to present here, assure a brilliant future to the art of photography in color. “- Photography in Colors. In: The American Journal of Photography, 12, pp. 180-183, translated from La Nature, February 14, 1891, which appeared 12 days after the CR printing.
Earlier work in this area was carried out by Seebeck (1810), Herschel (1839), Ed. Becquerel (1848) and others though “...the process was never of practical value”...”In 1891 G. Lippmann of Paris succeeded in carrying through these suggestions with an albumen emulsion of exceedingly fine grains.”-- Evans, Ralph Merrill; Hanson, W.T., Jr.; Brewer, W. Lyle (1953): Principles of Color Photography. New York: Wiley, pp. 275-278.
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