A minute on climate disruption—unexpectedly, through the lens of photographic history. We love Mad Max, but no one wants to hear politicians talk apocalypse.
| A minute on climate disruption—unexpectedly, through the lens of photographic history. We love Mad Max, but no one wants to hear politicians talk apocalypse.
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With the heat index suddenly invading our daily lives, the issue of climate disruption keeps coming up obsessively in conversations, even if Western media talk about it with a courtier’s discretion. Behind the question of global warming, another, equally pressing question emerges: how will the age of oil and the internal combustion engine end? We love watching the Mad Max movies, but we don’t really want to hear politicians—men or women—address the subject in apocalyptic terms.
In any case, everyone realizes that the planet managed to survive in relative balance, despite the disruptive presence of human civilization, up until the late 1970s. In fact, this is the scientific consensus: for the past 60 years, the excesses of oil combustion and its many uses have upset numerous balances. But who was the first to come up with the idea of using oil to power an engine?
The right for inventors to patent their inventions in France was first established during the French Revolution, in 1791. The revolutionary government passed the first patent law at a time of major political and financial instability. As a result, patents weren’t widely used until Napoleon’s reforms brought greater stability to France. Napoleon didn’t create the system, but he made it effective. Among the earliest patents is one issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, delivered on July 20, 1807—the first patent ever for a combustion engine, denominated “Pyréléophore,” granted to the Niépce brothers. At the time, Napoleon was in Dresden, Saxony.
Notably, among these treasures is also the original diploma awarded by the King of England to the elder brother, Claude Niépce. . This official document clearly attests that the two brothers jointly developed the Pyréolophore—the first internal combustion engine—based on an original idea by the younger brother, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce.
Perhaps it’s time to pause and reflect. For nearly a century, the role played by Niépce was deliberately overshadowed. Academic tradition has long presented Louis Daguerre as the inventor of photography, even though part of the scientific community knew otherwise. Isn’t it unsettling that, on one hand, the same person—Nicéphore Niépce—was behind two of the most transformative inventions of our society, photography and the internal combustion engine, while on the other, Daguerre, a shrewd businessman, was celebrated, yet unable to teach a lesson in photography when the time came?
Or rather, let’s simply say that those who have studied or experimented in science will not reach the same conclusions—or have the same sense of what is true—as those who have only observed from the outside. And here we are, once again, confronted with the question of perception: the perception of truth, rather than truth itself. A visit to the Niépce House, preserved as it was, allows you to step directly into the conditions, the atmosphere, and the very circumstances of Nicéphore’s experiments, surrounded by the same objects and tools he once used.
When you ask dictionaries, historians, or now artificial intelligence who invented the first internal combustion engine—the machine that ushered humanity and the entire planet into the age of oil—you rarely hear the name Niépce. There’s a reason for this omission, and it goes beyond simple oversight. The internal combustion engine developed by the Niépce brothers was not immediately adopted or widely developed. Why? One crucial factor is often overlooked: the powerful economic and institutional interests of the French academic and industrial elite during the First Empire, all of whom were deeply invested in the steam engine. In the early 19th century, the steam engine had become the dominant technology, backed by influential industrialists, engineers, and members of the Académie des sciences. Many of these figures had invested heavily in the development, manufacture, and exploitation of steam technology, which represented a major source of income and employment. They controlled access to public support, funding, and official competitions. Faced with a radically different invention like the Pyréolophore, these circles just responded with indifference.
The Niépces’ work was sidelined not because it lacked promise, but because it threatened established interests. We can mention only one occurrence in print during Nicéphore’s life, only one, and it is for the Pyréolophore. This single reference stands out as a rare exception in an era when their work was otherwise overlooked or ignored by the scientific and technical community. It underscores just how little recognition the Niépce brothers received at the time, despite the significance of their contribution. A copy of the first edition of this book is present in the Misteri della Fotografia exhibition at Palazzetto Baviera.
This fact is crucial for understanding both the historical invisibility of their achievement and the power of established interests to shape the narrative of invention and progress. The 1825 entry is, literally, the only printed trace of public recognition for the Pyréolophore while Nicéphore Niépce was alive. As we mark the bicentenary of the invention of photography, research and new publications on Nicéphore Niépce are underway. There are essentially six main places where his legacy is preserved. The largest archive is at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg, where Isidore Niépce, the inventor’s son, entrusted the family papers to Joseph Hamel. The original photograph, the View from the Window at Le Gras, is in Austin, Texas, in an institution that for seventy years has supported research and study on early photography.
The Bibliothèque nationale de France, home to the most important French photographic archives of the nineteenth century, has twice acquired significant Niépce papers and led research projects on his work. The archives of the Institut—Académie des Sciences and Académie des Beaux-Arts—hold the files and correspondence surrounding the official announcement of the invention in 1839. Finally, thanks to scientists, family members, and photography professionals, Nicéphore Niépce’s house at Saint-Loup-de-Varennes has been preserved.
Visitors can see some of the original furniture, the inventor’s own apparatus, family archives, the library of his cousin Colonel Niépce, and the preserved laboratory of his neighbor and disciple Petiot-Groffier.
If you wish to follow and reserve a visit with Pierre-Yves, you can contact him by mail speos or telephone at +33.385948460 (answering machine). The Maison Niepce site is here: bicentennial-of-photography.org
Let’s conclude with a special card dedicated to Nicephore, created for the Misteri della Fotografia series ! JNN-3. Niépce’s Pyréolophore, Chalon-sur-Saône – 1807 The two brothers became passionate about various inventions. Napoleon encouraged the search for new ideas to counter the continental blockade. When they invented a revolutionary internal combustion engine, they obtained a patent issued by Germany, where the Emperor was on campaign. This was the only mention in print of Joseph as an inventor during his lifetime. Heliochromy published as a postcard, mixed media on a digital base: collage, engraving, gouache retouching, and manual interventions.
JNN-3. Pyréolophore Niépce, Chalon-sur-Saône – 1807 I due fratelli si appassionano a diverse invenzioni. Napoleone incoraggia la ricerca di idee nuove per contrastare il blocco continentale. Quando inventano un motore a esplosione assolutamente rivoluzionario, ottengono un brevetto rilasciato dalla Germania, dove l’Imperatore è in campagna. In quell’occasione si registra l’unica menzione a stampa, in vita, di Joseph come inventore. Eliocromia pubblicata come cartolina, procedimento misto su base digitale: collage, incisione, ritocco a gouache e interventi manuali, e fa parte della seconda serie dedicata alla vita di Joseph Nicéphore Niépce Edizioni Atelier 41, via Fratelli Bandiera, Senigallia La Fotografia è la più bella delle collezioni … Senigallia, città della fotografia, ospitera nuovi spazi dedicato alla ricerca e promozione della fotografia. Atelier 41 si trova 41 via fratelli Bandiera. Senigallia diventerà la Città delle collezioni. Any question : fotografia@atelier41.org
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