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William Henry Fox Talbot was born in Melbury, Dorset on the 11 February 1800. Talbot was educated at Rottingdean, Harrow School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was awarded the Porson Prize in Classics in 1820, and graduated as twelfth wrangler in 1821. He was a British scientist, inventor and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th centuries. His work in the 1840s on photomechanical reproduction led to the creation of the photoglyphic engraving process. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1831 for his work on the integral calculus, and researched in optics, electricity and other subjects such as etymology and ancient history. He was the Father of modern photography, who produced the first photographs in 1838.
He achieved recognition by receiving the Royal Medal (1838) and Rumford Medal (1842)
Inside a 16th century medieval barn, at the gates of Lacock Abbey, is the Fox Talbot Museum of Photography. He died in 1877 at Lacock, Wiltshire.
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