The announcement of Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre's daguerreotype process on 7 January 1839 finally brought to public attention years of experimentation by Daguerre, his former collaborator Nicéphore Niépce (1765-1833) and the latter's son, Isidore Niépce. A short notice had appeared in the Gazette de France on 6 January without any details, and news of the process quickly spread. In particular, it reached London and prompted Henry Fox Talbot (see page 14) to bring forward the disclosure of his own process. AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT The announcement of the daguerreotype process by physicist François Jean Arago to the Académie des sciences eventually led to an agreement between Daguerre and Isidore Niépce with the French government, dated 14 June 1839, that granted Daguerre a state pension of 6,000 francs (around £15,500 today), Niépce junior 4,000 francs (around £10,300) for life, and to their widows half of each sum. In return, Daguerre and Niépce pledged to give the Ministry of the Interior a sealed package containing full details of the invention. The process was to be validated by Arago, in his dual role as a member of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Académie, after which it would be publicly demonstrated by Daguerre. The bill enabling the pension and confirming the agreement was passed by the French Chamber of Deputies on 3 July 1839 and by the upper Chamber on 30 July. The Giroux Daguerreotype