To hell with the Gutenberg Bible, winning football teams, and Pulitzer Prizes. Other places have those. But only UT has the very first photograph ever taken. The first! Primo! In the 1820s, Frenchman Joseph Nicephore Niepce experimented with various forms of heliographs and with plates made of copper, zinc, and finally pewter. After successfully taking the world's first photograph (which turns out to be of his courtyard at Gras), Niepce reportedly remarked, "I have seized the light! I have captured its flight!" Of course, he had time to think during the eight hours it took to expose the film and develop it in oil of lavender.
