This type of direct color photography was rather complicated, which is why only very few people recorded such photographs after Lippmann revealed his technique in 1891.
Gabriel Lippmann was born of French parents at Hollerich (Luxembourg) on August 16, 1845. His parents moved to Paris and eventually he was admitted to the École Normale. Pursuing only the topics that aroused his interest, Lippmann was not an ideal student.
He failed in the examination that would have qualified him as a teacher. Nevertheless, his latent abilities were recognized and he was given the opportunity to study in Heidelberg, where the celebrated physicist, Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (1824-1887) was professor.
In 1875, Lippmann returned to Paris; at first, he worked at home with a few instruments on loan from the “Ecole normale”, but he subsequently worked at the Sorbonne University. He completed his thesis on electrocapillarity and defended it on 24 July 1875, achieving “summa cum laude” distinction. His thesis was entitled Relations entre les phenomenes electriques et capillaires, and Kirchoff served as the doctoral advisor
He became head from 1886 until his death in 1921 of the famous L.R.P.S. “Laboratoire des Recherches Physiques de la Sorbonne”, in which he finalized his interference color photography.
In 1891 Lippmann announced that he had succeeded in recording a true-color spectrum. A little more than one year later Lippmann displayed four color photographs of different objects. Lippmann developed the first theory of recording monochromatic and polychromatic spectra. He applied Fourier mathematics to optics, which was a new approach at that time.
On March 3rd, 1908 he proposed the use of a series of small convex lenses (a fly's-eye lens array) at the picture surface instead of the opaque barrier lines of the Estanage method. This was announced to the French Academy of Sciences under the title "La Photographie Integrale". Finally, Estanave carried out the theoretical concepts of Lippmann in 1925.
Lippmann died aboard ship on July 12, 1921, while returning from a visit to Canada; but by no means did interest in the development and use of the capillary electrometer die with him. Lippmann was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of Interference Photography.
Several scientists and researchers began to explore and further develop this new color photography technique. Among them, Auguste and Louis Lumière, Hermann Krone, Eduard Valenta, Otto Wiener, Richard Neuhauss, Herbert Ives, Hans Lehmann, and Ramón y Cajal contributed extensively to the progress in this field.
Gabriel Lippmann and Lippmann Photography
