DeLancey W. Gill (1859–1940) was an American drafter, landscape painter, and photographer. As a teenager, he moved in with an aunt in Washington, D.C., after his mother and stepfather traveled west. He eventually found himself employed as an architectural draftsman for the Treasury. He created sketches and watercolor paintings of the city, with a particular focus on the still-undeveloped rural and poorer areas of the district. While working as an illustrator for the Smithsonian's Bureau of American Ethnology in the 1890s, he was appointed as the agency's photographer without prior photographic training. He took portrait photographs that circulated widely of thousands of Native American delegates to Washington, including notable figures such as Chief Joseph and Geronimo. These photographs have come under modern criticism for his frequent use of props and clothing, sometimes outdated or inauthentic, given to the delegates. (Full article...)
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist. He is known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating-current electricity supply system. This photograph, taken in Tesla's laboratory in Colorado Springs in December 1899, supposedly shows him reading in a chair next to his giant "magnifying transmitter" high-voltage generator while the machine produces huge bolts of electricity. The image was created through a double exposure as part of a promotional stunt by the photographer Dickenson V. Alley. The machine's huge sparks were first photographed in the darkened room, then the photographic plate was exposed again with the machine off and Tesla sitting in the chair. In his notes, compiled in Colorado Springs Notes, 1899–1900, Tesla admitted that the photo is false. Photograph credit: Dickenson V. Alley; restored by Bammesk
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