WattsOS
NC
National Congregational Council at Plymouth Rock
1865 · Albumen silver print from glass negative
Image: 37.5 x 47.6 cm (14 3/4 x 18 3/4 in.)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

John Adams Whipple (1822, 1891) was an American daguerreotypist and pioneering photographer who produced the first detailed photographic images of the moon in 1850, using a telescope-mounted camera at Harvard Observatory. His technical innovations in celestial photography established photography as a legitimate scientific instrument for astronomical observation. Whipple's precision in chemical processing and optical apparatus design made him one of the most accomplished practitioners of daguerreotype portraiture and landscape work in nineteenth-century America.
Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 25d ago