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John Benjamin Dancer (8 October 1812 – 24 November 1887) was a British scientific instrument maker and inventor of microphotography. He also pioneered stereography.
In 1842 Dancer took a daguerreotype from the top of the Royal Exchange which is the earliest known photograph showing part of Manchester.
John Benjamin Dancer, Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester
Manchester Microscopical & Natural History Society. British scientific instrument makers 1812 births 1887 deaths People associated with electricity Businesspeople from Liverpool 19th-century English businesspeople {{Photo-stub
Career
By 1835, he controlled his father's instrument making business in Liverpool. He was responsible for variousinvention
An invention is a unique or novelty (patent), novel machine, device, Method_(patent), method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It m ...
s, but did not patent many of his ideas. In 1856, he invented the stereoscopic camera (GB patent 2064/1856).
Dancer improved the Daniell cell
The Daniell cell is a type of electrochemical cell invented in 1836 by John Frederic Daniell, a British chemist and meteorologist, and consists of a copper pot filled with a copper (II) sulfate solution, in which is immersed an unglazed earthenw ...
by introducing the porous pot cell, which he invented in 1838. He was a leading inventor and practitioner in the emerging field of microphotography, work he began shortly after the Daguerreotype process was first announced in 1839. His novel uses of microphotography, such as "the reduction of the 680-word tablet erected in memory of the electrician William Sturgeon to a positive one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter", attracted much public attention. He assisted the physicist James Prescott Joule
James Prescott Joule (; 24 December 1818 11 October 1889) was an English physicist. Joule studied the nature of heat and discovered its relationship to mechanical work. This led to the law of conservation of energy, which in turn led to the ...
with the development of scientific instruments such as an apparatus for measuring the internal capacity of the bore of thermometer tubes, a tangent galvanometer, and other devices useful in Joule's research. A substantial collection of Dancer's papers, photographs, and apparatus is held by the Ransom Center at the University of Texas.
In 1842 Dancer took a daguerreotype from the top of the Royal Exchange which is the earliest known photograph showing part of Manchester.
Personal life
He was elected to membership of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society on 19 April 1842 Manchester., and is recorded on a plaque in Bow Lane Manchester. He died in November 1887 at the age of 75 and was buried at Brooklands Cemetery, plot D.2244,Sale, Greater Manchester
Sale is a town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It is on the south bank of the River Mersey, south of Stretford, northeast of Altrincham, and southwest of Manchester. Sale lies within the Historic counties of England, historic count ...
. He had two daughters, Elizabeth Eleanor and Anna Maria.
References
External articles and references
John Benjamin Dancer, Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester
Manchester Microscopical & Natural History Society. British scientific instrument makers 1812 births 1887 deaths People associated with electricity Businesspeople from Liverpool 19th-century English businesspeople {{Photo-stub