In 1872, Joseph May, was examining materials for use in for the first transatlantic cable placed a strand of selenium wire on a table near a window and noticed that sunlight caused the electrical conductivity of the wire to change .He noticed that the amount of electricity produced by the wire was directly proportional to the amount of light that had hit the wire. This discovery provided the basis of photo electricity.
Inventors like George R. Carey used this invention to create images