The French government announces that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Daguerre" id="mwkA" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Louis Daguerre">Louis Daguerre</a>'s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daguerreotype" id="mwkQ" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Daguerreotype">photographic process</a> is a gift "free to the world".