Tag Archives: scientific photography

Smillie and the 1900 Eclipse « The Bigger Picture

The history of photography can be a fascinating thing. Kids with cardboard boxes over their heads, what could this be about? Read on, the answer is as clear as day.

Eclipse viewers for kids.

Eclipse Viewers, by Francis Miller, 1963, Life Magazine, © Time Inc.

The Smithsonian’s photographer, Thomas Smillie, rigged cameras to seven telescopes and successfully made eight glass-plate negatives, ranging in size from eleven by fourteen inches to thirty by thirty inches. At the time, Smillie’s work was considered an amazing photographic and scientific achievement.

Smillie and the 1900 Eclipse « The Bigger Picture.