Louis Lumière

@Discoverers, Family and Facts ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Louis Lumière and his brother Auguste were French inventors who made the world’s first true motion picture French Inventors & Discoverers Libra Celebrities Louis Lumière and his brother Auguste were French inventors who made the world’s first true motion picture. They patented the cinematograph—a motion picture film camera and a film projector—which they used to make movies. Born as the son of a photographer, he became fascinated with the art of photography and the science behind it early on in life. His interest was shared by his brother Auguste and the two young men began working together in their father’s photographic firm. Louis made some improvements to the still-photograph process, and together with his father and brother developed a new, cutting edge, "dry" photographic plate, dubbed the "blue label" plate. The brothers started experimenting with creating moving images after their father’s retirement and found considerable success with their creative inventions. Inspired by Edison’s peephole Kinetoscope, the brothers started working on a similar machine and acquired the technology for the cinematograph from Léon Guillaume Bouly and patented the equipment in their own names. They went on to record motion pictures and held their first private screening of projected motion pictures in 1895. The popularity of their invention motivated them to embark on a world tour and they screened movies in cities like Bombay, London, Montreal, New York and Buenos Aires across the globe.

Personal Details

Birthday: October 5, 1864 Died on: June 6, 1948 Nationality: French Famous: Discoverers, Inventor of Cinematograph, Inventors, Inventors & Discoverers Spouses: Rose Winckler Siblings: Auguste Lumière Known as: Louis Jean Lumière, Louis Jean Lumiere Information Detail Birthday October 5, 1864 Died on June 6, 1948 Nationality French Famous Discoverers, Inventor of Cinematograph, Inventors, Inventors & Discoverers Spouses Rose Winckler Siblings Auguste Lumière Known as Louis Jean Lumière, Louis Jean Lumiere Discoveries / Inventions Autochrome Lumière Color Photography Birth Place Besançon Gender Male Father Antoine Lumière Mother Jeanne-Joséphine Costille Sun Sign Libra Born in Besançon Famous as Inventor of Cinematograph Died at Age 83

Besançon

Louis Lumière born at Unsplash Birth Place

Louis Lumiere died on June 6, 1948, aged 83. Unsplash Personal Life

Louis Jean Lumière was born on October 5, 1864, in Besançon, France, to Claude-Antoine Lumière and Jeanne Joséphine Costille Lumière. He had three siblings—a sister named Jeanne and two brothers, Édouard and Auguste. His father was a painter turned photographer. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Louis became interested in photography at an early age, a fascination he shared with his elder brother Auguste. He was blessed with creativity, confidence and a love for science and performed well at La Martiniere technical high school. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

After graduating from high school, Louis Lumière joined his brother and father to work in the photographic firm his father ran. This collaboration proved to be very fruitful and the father and sons successfully developed a new, cutting edge, "dry" photographic plate, dubbed the "blue label" plate. Unsplash Career

The invention was a commercial success as well and over the next several years the family accumulated a vast fortune manufacturing the plate. The money earned helped the brothers in funding further experimentation. Now they shifted their focus to color photography. Unsplash Career

Their father retired in 1892 and the brothers now began working on developing motion-picture technology. Their prior experimentation in color photography came in much handy during this time. Unsplash Career

Their father went to a showing of Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope in Paris and was much impressed by the equipment. He asked his sons to work on building a similar machine. At around the same time, French inventor Léon Bouly had invented a device called the cinematograph. Bouly was however unable to develop his machine further so he sold his rights to the device and its name to the Lumière Brothers. Unsplash Career

The brothers worked to improvise the cinematograph and were successful in building a device that combined a camera with printer and projector. They patented the device in 1895 and made their first motion picture ‘Sortie de l'usine Lumière de Lyon’ the same year. This film showed workers leaving the Lumière factory. Unsplash Career

Auguste and Louis Lumière were awarded the Elliott Cresson Gold Medal, the highest award given by the Franklin Institute, in 1909 for their work in color photography. Unsplash Awards & Achievements

Information	Detail
Birthday	October 5, 1864
Died on	June 6, 1948
Nationality	French
Famous	Discoverers, Inventor of Cinematograph, Inventors, Inventors & Discoverers
Spouses	Rose Winckler
Siblings	Auguste Lumière
Known as	Louis Jean Lumière, Louis Jean Lumiere
Discoveries / Inventions	Autochrome Lumière Color Photography
Birth Place	Besançon
Gender	Male
Father	Antoine Lumière
Mother	Jeanne-Joséphine Costille
Sun Sign	Libra
Born in	Besançon
Famous as	Inventor of Cinematograph
Died at Age	83

Louis Lumière

French

Oct 5, 1864

Biography

Personal Details

Besançon