541
and Principal at the University of St Andrews from
1859 until his death in 1868. In 1838 he was awarded
the Royal Society’s Rumford medal for his discovery
of the polarization of radiant heat; his later research,
on glaciers, earned him the sobriquet “explorer and
surveyor of the Alps.”
Forbes’s importance for the history of photography
lies in his contacts with the inventors of the new art. On
27 February 1839, Talbot sent Forbes a “lace specimen
of Photogenics,” together with two pieces of prepared
paper. Three months later, within the space of a few
days in May, fi rst in London and then in Paris, Forbes
saw specimens of Niépce’s heliographic process and
examples of Daguerre’s plates. Forbes was in fact one
of the fi rst British scientists to see Daguerre’s photo-
graphs, and he described the experience in detail in his
journal and in a letter to his sister. The day after he met
Daguerre, Forbes met Isidore Niépce, who explained
his father’s process “circumstantially and ... no doubt
correctly.”
Graham Smith
FORRESTER, BARON JOSEPH JAMES
DE (1809–1862)
English
Joseph de Forrester was a port wine merchant, artist,
antiquary, and author, who went to Portugal in 1831 to
work in the port business, eventually revolutionizing the
production methods. His important work in surveying
the Douro River helped make it more navigable—a
further aid to the wine-shipping trade. He published
Portuguese Scenery with Illustrative Notes in 1835 and
The Portuguese Douro and the Adjacent Country and
So Much of the River as Can Be Made Navigable in
Spain in 1848. He illustrated these works with his own
lithographs and maps.
He became a partner in the fi rm Offl ey and de For-
rester and was made a Baron by the Portuguese Govern-
ment in recognition of his work in promoting the port
trade with Britain.
He started making calotype views of the River Douro
and the surrounding areas in the early 1850’s as an aid to
his survey of the river. In all he is known to have made
at least 220 photographic studies.
He was a member of the Photographic Exchange Club
and the Photographic Society, as well as the Society’s
select dining club.
He drowned in his beloved Douro river, near the Pon-
to do Cachuo rapids on 12th May 1862, his body was not
recovered but a tombstone was erected in his memory
at the Anglican church of St James at Oporto.
Ian Sumner
FOSTER, PETER LE NEVE (1809–1879)
English barrister, mathematician, keen amateur
scientist, and early photographer
Peter le Neve Foster was one of a small group of men
who met informally in each other’s houses from c.
1847 to share their early enthusiasm for photography.
Now often referred to as the Calotype Club, the group
included Peter Wickens Fry, Frederick Scott Archer,
Hugh Diamond, the engineer Charles Blacker Vignoles
and others.
Born in Lenwade, Norfolk, in 1809, and called to the
bar in 1836, Foster subsequently met Roger Fenton, and
with their shared interests in both the law and photogra-
phy the two men’s association lasted many years.
Foster was one of the moving forces behind the
restructuring of the Royal Society of Arts in the 1840s,
serving as its Secretary for 25 years. With Fenton and
others, he was one of the organisers of the fi rst exhibition
of photographs held at the Society, in December 1852.
He was a founder member of the Photographic So-
ciety of London in January 1853, and served on its fi rst
Council. He would later also serve as a member of the
group sent by the Society to negotiate with William
Henry Fox Talbot for the relaxation of his calotype
patents for amateur photographers.
John HannavyFOUCAULT, JEAN BERNARD LEON
(1819–1868)
Jean Bernard Leon Foucault was born in Paris on Sep-
tember 23, 1819, son of Fortuné Foucault, editor and
bookseller, and Nicole Lepetit. The family settled in
Nantes and remained there until the beginning of the
1830s, then moved to Paris. In 1834, the father, suf-
fering a mental illness, was admitted to a hospital and
died in 1839. This family history partially explains why
Foucault never married. His interest in science and tech-
nology was evident as a young person. As an adolescent
he seemed to have built scientifi c toys, revealing an early
a taste for instruments and scientifi c experiments based
on scientifi c facts.
In Paris, Foucault was registered with the Stanislas
College where he showed little enthusiasm for his stud-
ies. Due to poor health, he studied with a tutor. During
this period, he became friends with another pupil of the
college, Hyppolite Fizeau, with whom he invested from
1844 to 1849 the majority of his research in the fi eld of
photography and whose courses offered more than one
similarity to his.
After receiving his baccalaureate, Foucault directed
himself towards medicine. He wanted to become a
surgeon, but his phobia of blood eliminated that initial