History

• Alois Senefelder developed the process in Germany around 1798, after years of research. He wanted a cheaper way to print his songs, because engraving in copper was expensive. He published a book about the process in 1818, and it spread quickly to England and the rest of Europe. Other printers began experimenting with using multiple stones for different colors, and more complex images.
  
  

Technology

• Oil and water naturally repel each other. The inventor, Alois Senefelder, called his process "chemical printing" because it involves the chemical interaction of grease, nitric acid, gum arabic and water. The stone used in this process is a very fine porous limestone, found in Bavaria in southern Germany, parts of France and Canada. The drawing materials can be any medium that is both greasy and visible, often crayons, pencils or paste.
  
  

Process

• After the image is drawn or copied onto the stone, it chemically fixed with a solution of acid and gum arabic. During printing the stone is kept wet, and water is attracted to the salt contained in the acid and gum arabic solution, but repelled by the greasy design. Oil-based printing ink is rolled over the surface, but only sticks to the oily image. The stone is then put through a classic hand press or an offset press, where the image is pressed out onto paper.
  
  

Uses

• Prints can be made with a variety of processes, some of which are very simpleleaf prints. image by samantha grandy from Fotolia.com
  
  Lithography began with reproductions of text, then expanded to use by artists in the 1820's and satire soon after in the prints of Honore Daumier. The process became used to print magazines and journals before the widespread use of photography. John James Audubon used lithographic prints to reproduce his drawings of animals in North America. Currier and Ives sold thousands of prints depicting traditional American life in the mid-nineteenth century. Marc Chagall, Picasso, and George Braque all used lithography in the 20th century, and it has continued to be a popular method of artistic expression.
  
  

Advances

• Optics use components created with nanotechnologyoptical filter image by Yali Shi from Fotolia.com
  
  Lithography is currently used at the micro and nanotechnology levels in many different branches of science. Electron beam lithography and nanoimprint lithography can be used to create detailed silicone membranes and other nano patterns for use as filters, sensors, displays systems and optics in telecommunications. Though these processes are more detailed, they are still connected to the original principle of lithography, which allows an image to be reproduced based on the chemical reactions of materials that are natural repellents, such as oil and water.