René Dagron

Who was René Dagron?

René Prudent Patrice Dagron was a French photographer and inventor. He was born in Aillières-Beauvoir, Sarthe, France. On 21 June 1859, Dagron was granted the first microfilm patent in history. He grew up in rural France but he left for Paris at an early age. In Paris he distinguished himself in the study of Physics and Chemistry. As a chemistry student Dagron became interested in Daguerrotypes when the process of producing them was announced on 19 August 1839. After graduation, Dagron established a photographic portrait studio in Paris. While in Paris Dagron became familiar with the collodion wet plate and collodio-albumen dry plate processes which he would later adapt to his microfilm techniques. Dagron is also considered the inventor of the miniature photographic jewels known as Stanhopes because a modified Stanhope lens is used to view the microscopic picture attached to the lens.