Portret van Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel before 1891

This photograph of Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel was captured by Nadar, a fellow experimenter of light. Becquerel, a pioneer in the study of luminescence, peers out with a gaze that seems to penetrate beyond the surface. Consider the symbol of light itself. From the halos of early Christian iconography to the Enlightenment's emphasis on reason dispelling darkness, light has always represented knowledge and divine presence. Yet, here, light is both the subject and the medium. Becquerel studied how light interacts with matter, unlocking the secrets of phosphorescence. This pursuit echoes the alchemists of old, who sought to transform base metals into gold, a metaphor for spiritual enlightenment. Becquerel, too, sought to transmute the unseen into the visible, capturing ephemeral moments on a photographic plate. There's a psychological depth here, a collective yearning to understand and control the elemental forces that shape our world. The image, like light itself, leaves an indelible trace on our collective memory.