Dancing Naked on the Head of a Pin: The Early History of Microphotography

publicdomainreview.org

So is it possible we can trace the manufacture of microchip lithography to this? We've been able to minaturize things for some time using light.

Yes. Many of the principles are the same. And photilithography had uses before semiconductors.

Wasn't miniaturisation of photos used to get airmail out of the Paris commune in 1871? So less than 20 years after this.

> A microphotograph by René Dagron, containing military communications, transported by carrier pigeon during the Siege of Paris, 1871

If only you'd read the fine article!