Google Doodle honours daguerreotype inventor

Google Doodle today celebrates 224th birth anniversary of French painter and physicist Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre. Born on November 18, 1787, Daguerre invented daguerreotype, the first successful form of photography.

Before daguerreotype, photography was a tedious task that needed hours of exposure time. Daguerre's invention reduced it to 20-30 minutes. The French Government acquired Daguerre's patent and in August 1839 gave the invention as a "free gift to the world."

Daguerre also apprenticed in architecture, theatre design, and panoramic painting with Pierre Prevost, the first French panorama painter. He became a celebrated designer for theater and later went on to invent Diorama, a scenic painting within a box which when viewed through a peephole, changes colour and direction of light to simulate changes in the weather, time of day, etc.

The Google doodle shows a 19th century style family photo. The photo shows five members where the 'G' and 'O' in the Google name depict the father and the mother and the three letters - 'O', 'O' and 'E' - the children. While, the 'Os' are two daughters, 'E' is the son. The letter 'L' is said to depict lamp.

Over the years, Doodles on Google homepage have made searching on Google more fun and enjoyable for its users worldwide. Doodles are known as the decorative changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, special events, the lives of famous artists and scientists and more.