The First “Selfie” In Historical past Taken by Robert Cornelius, a Philadelphia Chemist, in 1839

In 2013, the Oxford Dic­tio­nar­ies introduced that “self­ie” had been deemed their Phrase of The 12 months. The time period, whose first file­ed use as an Insta­gram hash­tag occurred on Jan­u­ary 27, 2011, was actu­al­ly invent­ed in 2002, when an Aus­tralian chap submit­ed a pic­ture of him­self on an inter­web discussion board and known as it a “self­ie”. Whereas units for tak­ing pho­tos of 1­self have been avail­in a position for a few years pri­or to the professional­lif­er­a­tion of the good­telephones respon­si­ble for this phe­nom­e­non, the his­to­ry of the self­ie dates again to the ori­gins of pho­tog­ra­phy itself.

Because the Pub­lic Area Overview notes, the primary file­ed occasion of the self­ie harkens again to what might have been the primary pho­to­graph­ic por­trait. In 1839, a younger Philadel­phia chemist named Robert Cor­nelius stepped out of his household’s retailer and took a pho­to­graph of him­self:

He took the picture by remov­ing the lens cap after which run­ning [into the] body the place he sat for a minute earlier than cov­er­ing up the lens once more. On the again he wrote “The primary gentle Pic­ture ever tak­en. 1839.”

Cor­nelius’ strik­ing self-por­trait was, appar­ent­ly, indica­tive of his knack for pho­tog­ra­phy; an entry in Godey’s Woman’s Guide from 1840 reads:

… As a Daguerreo­typ­ist his spec­i­mens are the very best which have but been seen on this coun­strive, and we communicate this with a full knowl­fringe of the spec­i­mens proven right here by Mr. Gouraud, pur­port­ing to be, and little doubt tru­ly, by Daguerre him­self. We have now seen many spec­i­mens by younger Cor­nelius, and we professional­nounce them unsurpassable—they have to be seen to be appre­ci­at­ed.

As a ultimate con­so­la­to­ry notice to these lin­guis­tic stal­warts whose blood boils at this little bit of Aus­tralian slang enter­ing the lex­i­con, haven’t any worry—the Oxford Dic­tio­nar­ies On-line could be very, very dif­fer­ent than the Oxford Eng­lish Dic­tio­nary.

through The Pub­lic Area Overview

Relat­ed Con­tent:

The First Pho­to­graph Ever Tak­en (1826)

Behold the Very First Col­or Pho­to­graph (1861): Tak­en by Scot­tish Physi­cist (and Poet!) James Clerk Maxwell

See the First Pho­to­graph of a Human Being: A Pho­to Tak­en by Louis Daguerre (1838)

Ilia Blin­d­er­man is a Mon­tre­al-based cul­ture and sci­ence author. Fol­low him at @iliablinderman.