Pierre Rossier was a pioneering Swiss photographer whose albumen
photographs, which include stereographs and cartes-de-visite, comprise
portraits, cityscapes and landscapes. He was commissioned by the
London firm of Negretti and Zambra to travel to Asia and document the
progress of the Anglo-French troops in the Second Opium War and,
although he failed to join that military expedition, he remained in
Asia for several years, producing the first commercial photographs of
China, the Philippines, Japan and Siam (now Thailand). He was the
first professional photographer in Japan, where he trained Ueno
Hikoma, Maeda Genzō, Horie Kuwajirō, as well as lesser known members
of the first generation of Japanese photographers. In Switzerland he
established photographic studios in Fribourg and Einsiedeln, and he
also produced images elsewhere in the country. Rossier is an important
figure in the early history of photography not only because of his own
images, but also because of the critical impact of his teaching in the
early days of Japanese photography.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Rossier
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1762:
Peter III was killed at Ropsha, a few days after he was deposed as
Emperor of Russia and replaced by his wife Catherine II.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_III_of_Russia)
1815:
Napoleonic Wars: Napoléon made his formal surrender to British
forces on board the HMS Bellerophon off the port of Rochefort, France,
ending the Hundred Days.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France)
1936:
Nationalist rebels in Spain attempted a coup d'etat against the
Second Spanish Republic, commencing the Spanish Civil War.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War)
1945:
Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Harry S. Truman met at the
Potsdam Conference to decide how to administer post-World War II
Germany.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdam_Conference)
1998:
Biologists reported in the scientific journal Science how they
sequenced the genome of Treponema pallidum, the bacterium that causes
syphilis.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treponema_pallidum)
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Wiktionary's Word of the day:
phlegmatic: Not easily excited to action or passion; calm; sluggish.
(
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/phlegmatic)
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Wikiquote of the day:
Maintain a constant watch at all times against a dogmatical spirit:
fix not your assent to any proposition in a firm and unalterable
manner, till you have some firm and unalterable ground for it, and
till you have arrived at some clear and sure evidence. -- Isaac Watts
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Watts)