Louis Lumiére
Inventor / Filmmaker
Louis Lumiére was the son of a Antoine Lumiére, a successful pioneer in photography. When Louis was a teenager he developed a photographic process that made the family business even more successful, and then he and his brother Auguste (b. 1862) turned their attention to the new invention of moving pictures. Together they invented a camera/projector called the Cinematograph, and for the first time audiences were able to see large projections of motion pictures (prior to that people watched the new medium through peepshows like those developed by Thomas Edison). The Lumiére brothers' produced thousands of short films, usually documents of everyday life, and were instrumental in the development of the cinema as a popular art form.Extra credit: At the Paris International Exhibition of 1900, the brothers unveiled a 360 degree panoramic projector, using 70mm film.
Four Good Links
Louis Jean Lumiére
Profile from the cool Who's Who of Victorian Cinema
Institut Lumiere
Includes info on the family history and the Lumiere museum
Louis and Auguste Lumiére
Brief profile, photos of their machine and more on early cinema
The Oldest Movies
Easily approachable summary of early cinema and Lumiére
Vital Stats
Birth
Birthplace
Death
1948
(age 83)
Best Known As
Pioneer inventor in moviemaking and projection
