Édouard Belin (5 March 1876 – 4 March 1963) was a French photographer and inventor. In 1907 Belin invented a phototelegraphic apparatus called the Bélinographe (télestéréographe)—a system for receiving photographs over telephone wires via telegraphic networks.[1]

Édouard Belin
Édouard Belin receiving a telegraph
Early portrait of Édouard Belin
Belinograph BEP2V wirephoto machine from 1953

Belin's invention had been used for journalistic photos since 1914, and the process was improved by 1921 to enable transmission of images by radio waves.[2]

From 1926, Belin worked on a television apparatus. In 1926, with Holweg, he tested the capacity for the eye to perceive pictures proposed at a very high speed, using a mirror drum.[3]

Belin was born in Vesoul, Haute-Saône, France, and died, aged 86, in Territet, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland.

Bélinographe

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In this apparatus, the transmitter traverses the original image point by point. At each point a measurement of light intensity[clarification needed] is made with an electric eye. The measurement is conveyed to the receiver. There, a variable intensity light source reproduces the light measured by the electric eye, while carrying out same displacements exactly. By doing this, it exposes the photographic paper and makes it possible to obtain a copy of the original image.

Other scientists such as Arthur Korn had also been developing technology to transmit images over long distances.[4]

Modern telecopiers and photocopiers use the same principle. With these devices, the source light intensity sensor was replaced by a CMOS sensor. The destination device that makes the photographic impression is based on either light or laser technology.

Legacy

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Belin gave his name to a high school of Vesoul, Haute-Saône, France.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Edward Jewitt Wheeler (1908). "Picture Telegraphy on an Entirely Novel Principle". Current Literature: 1908. Current Literature Publishing Company. pp. 436–437. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  2. ^ Wilfred S. Ogden (December 1921). "How the World's First Wireless News-Picture Was Flashed Across the Atlantic Ocean, Paris get President Harding's portrait in twenty minutes". Popular Science. Bonnier Corporation. pp. 21–22. ISSN 0161-7370. Retrieved 2 July 2014. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  3. ^ "L'impact de la roue à miroirs 1920-1929", Site Histoire de la télévision
  4. ^ Solbert, Oscar N.; Newhall, Beaumont; Card, James G., eds. (September 1953). "Photos by Wire" (PDF). Image, Journal of Photography of George Eastman House. 2 (6). Rochester, N.Y.: International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House Inc.: 35. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  5. ^ Lycée Edouard Belin. missiontice.ac-besancon.fr
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