The Presidential Address - May 22nd, 2001

The Impossible Process

The President, Brian Tabor, introduced his address by reminding members that his working career had been with Kodak and the 'Impossible Process' which formed the subject of his lecture was the production of the modern coloured photographic image. Brian took us on a fascinating journey through the history of the discovery and development of the process for obtaining an image on a surface as a result of light interacting with that surface.

The journey started with the experiments of Thomas Wedgewood, son of the great Josiah Wedgewood, using silver chloride coated materials in 1790. The journey then wandered up the dead-end alley which yielded the first permanent photographic images - the daguerotype, and then back to the main path which meandered steadily towards the process which yields the photographic images we almost take for granted today.

The lecture was illustrated by slides of portraits of the many people involved in this journey, including a charming picture of the President's sister using an early model of the electron microscope to study the structure of the silver particles generated during the development of the film. An impossible process? Clearly not when we look at the products today but the President made a good case for suggesting that, if a head of research in a modern company was asked to assess the chance of success in manufacturing such a process from scratch today, it would seem such a minute chance as to be deemed impossible. The President answered questions from the floor after which those present gave him a warm vote of thanks.

Maurice O. Moss