Portrait of a Gentleman, c. 1845

John Adams Whipple (1822-1891) A trained chemist, John Adams Whipple was drawn to the new invention of the daguerreotype. Working collaboratively with Albert Litch from 1843-1846 in Boston, he would later go on to make great strides in astronomical photography. Hired by Harvard College Observatory, with his assistant William B. Jones, he succeeded in creating an image of Alpha Lyrae, the first star other than the sun to be photographed. He also successfully photographed the lunar eclipse of July 28, 1851.

Whipple patented a technique for creating vignettes which he called “crayon portraiture” and the crystalotype, which were photographs in albumen on glass plates. Whipple’s work can be found in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Science Museum, London.