Fox Talbot, Science Museum

Forget the tickling trope of the crackpot Victorian inventor - remember those horse spectacles? The portable bath? The nineteenth century was an age of major scientific and technological breakthrough for Britain. Railways, sewer-systems, electric lights, evolution: these were all Victorian advancements. Perhaps the most profound invention of the Victorian era, though, was photography: the ability to 'write in light', that changed the way people saw the world.

William Henry Fox Talbot and his invention of the 'negative' is the father of medium, and this year, the Science Museum celebrates this remarkable scientific pioneer. The Science Museum owns the most comprehensive body of work by Fox Talbot - over 6,500 items - so you can expect a thorough investigation.

Fox Talbot not only pioneered photographic method, he foresaw its possible uses with remarkable acuity. His writings make clear that he understood that this scientific breakthrough bridged art, science and industry, and that it would change society forever.

And yet, Fox Talbot was not working in a vacuum. For starters, across the pond Daguerre was working on something rather similar - his 'daguerrotype' was a competing discovery. Meanwhile, a little network of photographers had gathered around Talbot, each one taking the medium in a new aesthetic direction. The exhibition will take a look at Fox Talbot contemporaries, too, in order to paint a clearer picture of his own role.