Renaissance Man

Renaissance man
Physician, chemist, physicist, photographer, inventor, teacher, historian, and social philosopher, Draper was a true Renaissance man. Born in England in 1811 but educated at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his M.D. degree in 1836, Draper began his academic career at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia where he was professor of chemistry and natural philosophy. Here he quickly established himself as an experimentalist in photochemistry, exploring the effect of sunlight on plants and on the stability of various substances, including silver halide salts. Draper’s interest in photography grew from this latter work because he had discovered how to produce images of objects on sensitized paper but was unable to make them permanent.

Pioneering photographer
Draper accepted an appointment in the medical school at New York University in 1839. Almost at the same time that he arrived in New York, the details of Frenchman Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre’s new photographic process, as published in the London Globe, arrived on a British ship. Draper, now able to fix his photographic images, took one of the first photographic portraits of a human subject, something that Daguerre considered impossible because of the long exposure times required. Draper was the first to photograph the moon and was instrumental in introducing photography into scientific investigations. As a result, Draper figures prominently in most books on the history of photography. While his expertise and fame positioned him to capitalize on commercial opportunities in the field, he did not follow that path. Nor did he pursue financial opportunities that would have been available to him through patents or other activities.

Chemist and inventor
At New York University, Draper continued his work on photochemistry, establishing a chemical law that bears his name and developing the tithonometer, the first device that allowed scientists to measure the amount of light absorbed in a chemical reaction. At the same time in 1876 that Bell was talking to Watson on his new “telephone,” Draper was receiving the distinguished gold and silver Rumford Medals from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in recognition of his original research in radiant energy. Draper was only the eighth recipient in 80 years to receive this honor.

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