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Did you know that the first photograph is credited to a Frenchman? Take that Kodak!

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (March 7, 1765 – July 5, 1833) was a French inventor, most noted as the inventor of photography and a pioneer in the field. He is well-known for taking some of the earliest photographs, dating to the 1820s.

He created the first permanent photograph, of a pigeon house and barn as seen from his window, in the summer of 1826.The photograph was made using a camera obscura and a sheet of pewter coated with bitumen of Judea, an asphalt that when exposed to light, hardened permanently. This first photograph was captured during an eight hour exposure, taking so much time that the sun passed overhead, illuminating both sides of the courtyard.