Richard Maddox was an English photographer who who invented lightweight gelatin negative plates for photography in 1871. Gelatin is a transparent substance used for making candy. Dry plates had been tried before and had no effect silver nitrate with a binder of albumen derived from egg white, and widely used in printing-out paper in the nineteenth century had been coated on glass; but these proved to be too insensitive for camera use. Gelatin had also been suggested by photo-theorist and color pioneer Thomas Sutton, and the substance would also have been known to Maddox - himself an eminent microscope practitioner - through its use as a holding/preserving base used in microscope slides. the Result was obvious with the gelatin plates the photographers could us dry plates off the shelf instead of having to prepare their own emulsions in a mobile dark room. Richard Maddox's later wears were marred by poverty and health. Maddox first started looking for a substitute for collodion when he found his health being affected by the ether vapor from the collodion process. Maddox worked on photography before but his greatest contribution was in 1871.
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