GODDARD, John Frederick

b. 1795; d. 1866

Goddard was a chemist and a lecturer in Science at the Polytechnic of Central London who later worked as an operator in Richard Beard's studio.

The Daguerreotype process initially was very slow, and attempts were made to shorten the long expsoure times. One method was by using a fast lens, and Josef Petzval first made one in 1841, with a maximum aperture of f/3.6. This was a breakthrough as far as portaiture was concerned.

A second solution was to make the plate faster by double sensitizing, and here is where Goddard comes in. He used bromine vapour in addition to iodine to increase the sensitivity of the daguerreotype. Goddard refumed the iodized surface of the plate with bromide, and his accelerator, which he called quickstuff could reduce a ten minute exposure to one minute. Details of the improvement were published in December 1840.

His work was of considerable significance for daguerreotype photography, as it reduced the required exposure from some fifteen or even twenty minutes to as little as ten seconds.