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Born in 1817, Jules Duboscq trained as an optician in Paris under Jean-Baptiste Soleil (1778-1878) and became known as a skilled mechanic. He improved the design of various optical instruments of the time, built Leon Foucault's electromagnetic regulator and also his Heliostat.

Duboscq built a stereoscopic camera where exposures were made by the spark from an electric arc. He won medals at the World's Fair in London in 1851 and Paris in 1855 and a gold medal in 1856. In 1853 he published details of his varius apparatus in Practical Rules for Photography.

An Officer of the Legion of Honour, Jules Duboscq died on September 24, 1886.

Source: http://www.polytechnique.fr/bibliotheque/BioDuboscq.html

Ateliers Soleil et successeurs

Jean-Baptiste Soleil (1778-1878) mit son habileté et son intelligence au service de grands savants: Fresnel (1788-1827), Arago(1786-1853), Foucault (1819-1868), Babinet (1794-1872), Delezenne, etc. Outre le sphéromètre déjà cité, le musée présente un banc d'optique muni de nombreuses pièces d'optique. La maison Soleil fut fondée en 1819 et dirigée par Jean-Baptiste Soleil de 1819 à 1849.

Jules Duboscq (1817-1886), son élève puis son gendre, lui succéda de 1849 à 1883 Il créa et mit au point de nombreux appareils et perfectionna !e saccharimètre Soleil créé par son beau-père. C'est cette version perfectionnée que possède le musée; l'objet, portant l'inscription _J. Duboscq à Paris_, dut être fabriqué entre 1849 et 1883. Il comporte une pièce inventée par Jean-Baptiste Soleil: le compensateur Soleil.

Jules Duboscq fut, très peu de temps, associé à l'un de ses frères, A. Duboscq, et l'enregistreur de mouvements vibratoires du musée de Louis-le-Grand date du temps de cette brève association, ce qui, pour les collectionneurs, serait susceptible de lui donner plus de valeur. Philippe Pellin codirige les ateliers à partir de 1883 avec Jules Duboscq, puis seul à partir de 1886 (décès de Jules Duboscq). Monsieur Pierre Provost a reconnu l'appareil pour l'étude des lois de Descartes (sur la réflexion et la réfraction) dans un vieux catalogue de Philippe Pellin.

Source: http://www.worldnet.net/~serda/musee.html

The History of 3-D Photography and Anaglyphs - Excerpt

The idea of stereoscopy actually preceded photography. As early as 1584, Leonardo da Vinci, one of the great scientific artists, studied the perception of depth.

Stereoscopic, or 3-D photography, works because it is able to recreate the illusion of depth. Human eyes are set about two-and-a-half inches apart, so each eye sees an image slightly differently. If you take two separate photographs that same distance apart, with a suitable viewer it is possible to recreate that illusion of depth.

There is some dispute in 3-D circles whether the concept was invented by Charles Wheatstone who, in June 1838, gave an address to the Royal Scottish Society of Arts on the phenomena of binocularvision. He made geometric 3D drawings and a device to view them called a reflecting mirror stereoscope. (This is preserved at the Science Museum in London.)

Almost twelve years later, the Scottish scientist David Brewster invented the first practical photographic device called the lenticular stereoscope.

Early workers in this field include Roger Fenton, who took photographs in Russia, when he visited there in 1852, and Jules Duboscq, who made stereoscopes and stereoscopic daguerreotypes. Duboscq in turn caused Antoine Claudet to become interested in stereoscopy; Claudet patented stereoscopes in 1853.

The stereoscope took off in a big way when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert observed one at the exhibition at the Crystal Palace, and Brewster presented her with a stereoscope made by Duboscq. Almost overnight a 3-D industry developed and 250,000 stereoscopes were produced and sold in a short time. Stereographers were sent throughout the world to capture views for the new medium and feed the demand for 3-D.

The golden age of stereography had begun. From 1860 to the 1930's, the stereo cards documented life of the time and important events. A variety of viewers became available, from the simple home viewer to cabinet-type viewers which could store fifty or so positives.

The London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company came into being in 1850 and continued for seventy years. The Stereoscopic Society was founded in 1893, and still exists today.

Anaglyphs

"Anaglyph" is derived from two Greek words meaning "again" and "sculpture".

The conventional method of viewing stereoscopic photographs in the last century was to use a viewer which held a pair of images, and which enabled each eye to see only one; by fusing these together a three dimensional effect was recreated. The discovery of anaglyphic 3-D has been attributed to a French gentleman named Joseph D'Almeida, who used the technique in the 1850s to project glass stereo lantern slides.

William Friese-Greene created the first three-dimensional anaglyphic motion pictures in 1889, which had public exhibition in 1893.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/the_net/e2/history.html

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