Nicéphore Niépce (born Joseph Niépce) March 7, 1765 – July 5, 1833) was a French inventor, most noted as one of the inventors of photography and a pioneer in the field.

He is most noted for producing the world's first known photograph in 1825.

Among Niépce's other inventions was the Pyréolophore, the world's first 'internal combustion engine', which he conceived, created, and developed with his older brother Claude, finally receiving a patent on July 20, 1807 from the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, after successfully powering a boat upstream on the river Saône.