LEREBOURS

Noël-Jean Lerebours (1761-1840)

Noël-Jean Lerebours was the founder of the optical company in Paris bearing his name. He sold physical, mathematical and optical instruments. After his death in 1840, his adopted son Nicolas Paymal Lerebours (1807-1873) continued the company, expanding its activities into the new field of photography. Nicolas was well-known for his daguerreotypes, an early, very labour-intensive method of photography. His work was popular and his clientele included the French royal family. Lerebours became famous for his simple achromatic microscope which he described in 1839, although he had obviously already been using it for many years. In 1845, Lerebours went into partnership with Marc François Louis Secrétan, Professor of Astronomy at Lausanne and the company was renamed Lerebours & Secrétan of Paris. Lerebours retired in 1855 and the company continued as Secrétan of Paris.