Originally a scene painter for the opera, Daguerre was a French inventor who devised one of the first practical photographic processes—the daguerreotype. He, in collaboration with Nicéphore Niépce, found that a permanent image could be formed on a silver iodide-coated copper plate if it was exposed to light, then fumed with mercury vapor and fixed by a solution of common salt. His daguerreotype process was announced in 1839 at the Academy of Sciences. Who acquired the patent for the invention? Discuss