Иван Пухер: Ғалым, суретші және фотограф өмірі мен жаңалықтары

Slovene priest, scientist, photographer, artist and poet

Johann Augustin Pucher ( or Ivan Pucher; August 26, 1814 – August 7, 1864) was a Slovene priest, scientist, photographer, artist, and poet who invented an unusual process for making photographs on glass. Although his were not the first glass photographs, Pucher's process was unique. It was the only 19th century photography technique that was not based on expensive silver halide chemistry but was still sensitive enough to use in a camera, with exposure times comparable to those of the daguerreotype and calotype. (Other non silver processes, such as the cyanotype, were practical only for making prints or photograms in direct sunlight.) Modern testing of Pucher's photographs has confirmed their chemically unusual nature. However, his process was never commercialized, and attempts to recreate it based on published information have been unsuccessful.

Pucher was born on August 26, 1814 in Kranj in the Duchy of Carniola in the Austrian Empire (now Slovenia). He was the son of Joseph Pucher and Maria Lebar Pucher, and he was baptized Augustin Johann Pucher. The first report about his invention was published in the newspaper Carniolia in 1841. While living in Bled, Pucher met a French viscount, Louis de Dax, who wrote about him in the Parisian magazine La Lumière. The church then moved Pucher to a small village, Cerklje, where his contacts abroad lessened. Ultimately, he became sick from the harmful substances used in his experiments and died at the age of 49.

According to Pucher's records of his photographic process, he coated a small glass plate with a layer of light sensitive sulfur, exposed it to iodine vapors, and inserted the prepared plate into a camera. He then poured mercury into a metal container, placed the mercury at the bottom of the camera, and heated it from below. He exposed the prepared plate to light for 15 seconds, and mercury vapors coated the exposed places on the picture. Pucher strengthened the picture with bromine steam and fixed it by wrapping it with alcohol. Finally, he preserved the photo with varnish. The advantages of Pucher's procedure included a shorter exposure time (15 seconds, which allowed him to make portraits), a positive image, and the possibility of reproduction. Pucher was not the first to try to create photos on glass: A Frenchman, Abel Niépce de Saint Victor, reported his own invention to the French Academy of Sciences in 1847. It was not until January 1851 that the Austrian Academy of Sciences published a report on Pucher's method.

Bled island, colored photo reproduction of a graphic motif on paper, 6.5 × 5.1 cm, National Museum
Last Supper, colored photo reproduction of a graphic motif on paper, 7.8 × 6 cm, National Museum
Gregor Rihar in a boat in Bled, photo reproduction of a drawing on paper, 9.1 × 6.3 cm, National Museum

Pucher wrote at least 15 poems in Slovene and 4 in German. Some of them were set to music by prominent composers.