science · 13 October 1860 · 164 years ago
In 1860, the first successful aerial photograph in the U.S. was taken over Boston by James Wallace Black in a balloon, The Queen of the Air with Samuel Archer King as navigator held by a cable 1,200 feet above the city. Eight pictures were exposed, using wet plates prepared in the balloon as needed. One good photograph resulted - Boston as the Eagle and the Wild Goose See It, which showed an area bounded by Brattle Street on the north, the harbour on the east, Sumner Street on the south, and Park Street on the west. (Credit for the first aerial photograph goes to French author and artist Felix Tournachon who used the nom de plume Nadar. He captured the first aerial photo from a balloon tethered over the Bievre Valley in 1858, though his work is lost.)
OnThisDay.net