History of Photography and the Camera (Timeline)

Several important achievements and milestones dating back to the ancient Greeks have contributed to the development of cameras and photography.   Here is a brief time timeline of the various breakthroughs with a description of its importance.   5th-4th Centuries B.C. Chinese and Greek philosophers describe the basic principles of optics and the camera. 1664-1666 Isaac Newton discovers that white light is composed of different colors. 1727 Johann Heinrich Schulze discovered that silver nitrate darkened upon exposure to light. 1794 First Panorama opens, the forerunner of the movie house invented by Robert Barker. 1814 Joseph Niepce achieves first photographic image using  an early device for projecting real-life imagery called a  camera obscura. However, the image required eight hours of light exposure and later faded. 1837 Louis Daguerres first daguerreotype, an image that was fixed and did not fade and needed under thirty minutes of light exposure. 1840 First American patent issued in photography to Alexander Wolcott for his camera. 1841 William Henry Talbot patents the Calotype process,  the first negative-positive process making possible the first multiple copies. 1843 The first advertisement with a photograph is published in Philadelphia. 1851 Frederick Scott Archer invented the Collodion process  so that images required only two or three seconds of light exposure. 1859 Panoramic camera, called  the Sutton, is  patented. 1861 Oliver Wendell Holmes invents stereoscope viewer. 1865 Photographs and photographic negatives are added to protected works under copyright law. 1871 Richard Leach Maddox invented the gelatin dry plate silver bromide process, which means negatives no longer had to be developed immediately. 1880 Eastman Dry Plate Company is founded. 1884 George Eastman invents flexible, paper-based photographic film. 1888 Eastman patents Kodak roll-film camera. 1898 Reverend Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film. 1900 First mass-marketed camera, called the Brownie, goes on sale. 1913/1914 First 35mm still camera is developed. 1927 General Electric invents the modern flash bulb. 1932 First light meter with photoelectric cell is  introduced. 1935 Eastman Kodak markets Kodachrome film. 1941 Eastman Kodak introduces Kodacolor negative film. 1942 Chester Carlson receives a patent for electric photography (xerography). 1948 Edwin Land launches and  markets the Polaroid camera. 1954 Eastman Kodak introduces high-speed Tri-X film. 1960 EGG develops extreme depth underwater camera for U.S. Navy. 1963 Polaroid introduces the instant color film. 1968 Photograph of the Earth is taken from the moon. The photograph, Earthrise, is considered one of  the most influential environmental photographs ever taken. 1973 Polaroid introduces one-step instant photography with the SX-70 camera. 1977 Pioneers  George Eastman and Edwin Land are  inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. 1978 Konica introduces the first point-and-shoot autofocus camera. 1980 Sony demonstrates first consumer camcorder for capturing moving picture. 1984 Canon demonstrates first digital electronic still camera. 1985 Pixar introduces the digital imaging processor. 1990 Eastman Kodak announces Photo Compact Disc as a digital image storage medium. 1999 Kyocera Corporation introduces the VP-210 VisualPhone, the worlds first mobile phone with built-in camera for recording videos and still photos.