Thomas Wedgwood

Son of Josiah Wedgwood, a potter who founded the Wedgwood Company and industrialized pottery; Josiah and the Wedgwood Company were known for jasperware (colored stoneware applied with relief decoration), "wedgwood blue", and developing modern marketing techniques. Thomas, whose poor health kept him from being a partner in the business for more than a few years, became interested in light-sensitive materials. He is the first person documented to think of and try using light-sensitive material to capture images made by a camera obscura, and in the 1790s created "sun pictures" (photograms) on sensitized paper, white leather, glass and ceramic - perhaps with the idea of aiding the copy of designs onto pottery. Thirty years before John Herschel discovered how to dissolve light-sensitive silver halides, he was not able to find a way to render his images permanent, however - if exposed to light they would darken and the image would be lost - so no definite examples of his work remain.