A Brief History of Colour Theory: Foundations of Colour Science

151 Pages·2022·6.176 MB·English

by  George Pavlidis

A Brief History of Colour Theory
George Pavlidis
A Brief History of Colour
Theory
Foundations of Colour Science
GeorgePavlidis
ILSP-InstituteforLanguageandSpeech
Processing
ATHENA-ResearchandInnovationCentre
inInformation,Communication
andKnowledgeTechnologies
UniversityCampusatKimmeria
Xanthi,Greece
ISBN978-3-030-87770-5 ISBN978-3-030-87771-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87771-2
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Preface
IamRikuSatoandIamrecordingthisincasethingsgosouth.TodayitisSunday,29th
ofMarch,2314,acoldspringmorningwitharound5◦Celsiusoutside.Iammaking
thesenotesathome,nearMaruyamaParkinSapporo,Hokkaido,northJapan.Iama
BiotechnologyEngineerforBioSapCo.Ltd.,asmallcompanyjustoutsideSapporo,
whichspecialisesinagricultureandfoodmanufacturing.Icanseefrommywindow
the blooming of the cherry trees in Maruyama Park, a sight that has been known
toattractattentionduetoitsexceptionallycolourfulbeautyforcenturies.Actually,
thisisoneofthepartsofthemetropolisofHokkaidothatremainsthesamealong
withsomeextrememountainousregionsontheisland.Theresthasbeenurbanised
sincethemid-twenty-secondcenturywhenthemajorityofthe‘civilised’countries
turnedtothehedonicsocietymodel afterintelligentrobotstookoveralmostallthe
works in every sector. With most of the work being done by intelligent devices,
peoplearenowexploringthelimitsofhedonisminwaysIshouldnotdiscussfurther
here.Sincetheworldpopulationstabilisedtoaround9billioninthetwenty-second
centuryduetovariousreasonsthatrelatetothequalityoflifedecisionsandnatural
evolution factors, this is what happened to the whole world, actually. What is still
changingthoughislifeexpectancy,whichbeforethenanotechnologyenhancements
hadnaturallyreached100years,inJapan,110.
Everyday life is interwoven with the Grid, the supercomputing network that
connectseverythingontheentireplanet.Forhistoricalreasons,sufficetosaythat,
asoftheearly2200s,nearlyacenturynow,personalsupercomputingdevicesarea
commodity,enabledbyintelligence-guideddesignthatpushedelectronicsefficiency
to the limits of current physics. I remember from my school years, people used to
saythatMoore’sLawreacheditsphysicallimitatthatpointinhistory.
About 10 years ago, nanotechnology has, for the first time, been successfully
applied to upgrade human bodies, leading to what we now call the transhuman
society. Even though not all people have accepted this change (yet), most have
alreadytakenthisdirection,whichpracticallyleadstoimmortality,byenablingthe
shiftingfromorganictodigitalandbodyswitching.Apartfromenhancingoursenses
and abilities, this technology opened the way towards linking with each other and
beingabletosharethoughtsandemotionsamongtheall-connectedrealandartificial
v
vi Preface
consciousnesses on Earth. Speaking about myself, among various enhancements,
I have already upgraded my visual sensation to be able to experience hyperspec-
tral vision in microscopic and telescopic ranges and still strife to get used to the
overwhelmingamountoftheinformationandthenewperceptionsitopened.
For the record, to make the leap towards the new type of society we needed to
make another leap. By the end of the twenty-third century, humanity matured to a
stable Type 1 civilisation (remember Nicolai Kardashev’s scale?) and begun steps
towardsType2,tocovertheallgrowingneedsforubiquitousenergy.
OneofmyhobbiesthatIamdevelopingafterIembracedthenewhumancondition
isthestudyofhistory.NowthatIgainedamuchdeeperinsightintobeing,allkinds
ofhistoricaleventsseemtointriguememore.Like,forexample,when4yearsago
the old Voyager I probe, which begun its space travel in 1977, finally reached the
innerpartoftheOortCloud,theregionthatmarkstheendofthesolarsystem.This
old craft is of historical interest, as it was the first to attempt such a long journey,
although many more recent attempts have already surpassed it, thus rendering it
a relic of the past space exploration. Apparently, the power systems of the probe
havelongdiedoutanditwillfloatadrifttowardstheouterrimsofthesolarsystem
forsomethousandsofyears.Nevertheless,eventslikethisseemtohaveadifferent
meaning for me now, which I am able to experience within a broader perspective.
Thisis,actually,alsothesourceofmyanxietyandfear,aslookingintothepasthas
beenmarginalised,metwithextremescepticism,virtuallybanned,althoughnotby
law, but by the societal customs since the beginning of the twenty-fourth century.
Afterall,hedonicsocietiesrelyonnotlookingbackandthisiswhyIamafraidthis
endeavourofminemightproverather‘unhealthy’.
ItwasaweekagothatIwaslookingatthebloomingtreesinMaruyamaParkusing
mynewlyenhancedhyperspectralvisionandwasabletoappreciateanewperception
ofcolour;Iwasabletoselectivelyswitchbetweenvariousartificialfilters,implanted
inmyneweyesandvisualprocessingpathways,toblockoutpartsofthelightreflected
from the trees, or even create various colour composites that revealed interesting
aspectsofthepropertiesofvegetation,likethehealthofthetreesortheirwatercontent
andnitrogenconcentration.AsIfacilitatedmymicroscopicvisionabilitiesIwasable
tozoomintothemolecularstructureoftheleavesandtheflowerstoexperiencethe
real-time workings of plant life. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with the query of
howwasitevenpossibletothinkthatmypreviousstateofvisionwassufficientin
thefirstplace.Thischainofthoughtledtoaneedforafurtherinvestigationofmy
previousvisionmechanism,butalsoofthevariousvisualapparatusesthatwehave
devised to mimic that primitive form of vision. I remembered an old technology,
called photography, some people thought of it also as art. Today, with the four-
dimensional holographic space-time projections, based on an extension of lattice
quantumchromodynamics,thatoldtechnology,orart,orwhateveritmaybecalled
seemslikeanotherrelicofthepast,whichisgood,right?Well,Ithought,whynot
takeadeepbreathandsomeofmytimetolookintoit?Afterall,everyonehasaccess
to everything through the Grid. Although I am not knowledgeable in the domains
ofthephysicsoflight,optics,imagingchemistryandelectronics,aswellashuman
visionbiology,myplanwastoaccesstheGridandgainasmuchinsightaspossible.
Preface vii
IhadtogodarkandapplyseverallayersofspoofingandmaskingtohidemyGrid
identityforprotection,though,whichissomethingIcannotdiscussfurther.
My initial search results were all too unclear, too messed up, too fragmented.
I was able to locate excellent sources for the nature of light, for the physiology
oftheeye,visionandvisualperception—whichissodifferentfromvision—forthe
physicsoftheoptics,thephotochemistryandtherelatingreactions,thephotoelectric
phenomenonandtheelectroniclightsensingandlightingtechnologies,thehistory
anddevelopmentofphoto-sensingapparatuses.Alongthese,thereweresourcesfor
the technical specifications of the human vision, which contradicted each other or
agreedtoanaverage,atbest.Nosinglesourcewastobefoundtoprovidethefull
insightintothenotionsinvolved.Allthesourcesagreed,though,thatanystudyof
visionorvisualsensingdevicesstartswiththestudyoflight,movesonthedefini-
tion of vision, the development of the notion of colour, and finally the analysis of
the specifications of the various devices and some almost mystical principles, like
that golden ratio rule; all these seemed like constant strife of human intelligence
thoughttheages,datingbacktotheantiquity.Amongthestudies,thatofthehuman
visualsensingmechanism,theeyehasaprominentposition.Thestudyofthevisual
sensingapparatusesincludesinmostcasesthedisintegrationofcompositedevices
intotheirmainparts,asthosepartshavebeendevelopedbasedontotallydifferent
principles, although to the same end, to mimic the sensation of vision, but also to
correctoralleviatesomelimitationsandnaturallyoccurringdefects.Inthemiddle
of everything, I found the central notion of colour, its meaning, its scientific and
semanticcontent.Colourbecamemyfocusofresearchandthusthefollowingtexts
summarisethefindingsofthisinvestigation,hopefullyinaninsightfulwaysothatI
mayhaveitasareferenceforthefuture,andmightbeofsomeutilitytootherson
theGrid.
AsIwasdiggingintotheGrid,Imanagedtogetmyhandsonanoldtwenty-first-
centuryphotographyapparatusfrommygoodfriendIchikawhoisaConservatorin
theSapporoArtMuseum,amongthelastsuchinstitutionstoholdfragmentsofthe
humanmemory,unfortunatelywithlittlepublicinterestanymore.Thisapparatusis
calledaphotographiccamera,whichwassupposedtobestateoftheartatthattime.
I instantly developed an enthusiasm towards photography as a form of expression
andalovefortheretro.Butwhatwouldphotographybeifitweren’tforcolourand
vision? What is reported in the subsequent texts reflect my ongoing investigation
for an in-depth understanding, experimentation and, sometimes, expression. It is
my hope that this treatise will aid others in search of such understanding before
everythingislostforever.
Sapporo,Japan RikuSato
March2314
Contents
1 Introduction ................................................... 1
2 ColourTheoryintheAncientTimes ............................. 5
2.1 Introduction .............................................. 5
2.2 AlcmaeonofCroton ....................................... 7
2.3 Parmenides ............................................... 8
2.4 Empedocles .............................................. 9
2.5 Protagoras ................................................ 10
2.6 Democritus ............................................... 11
2.7 Plato .................................................... 12
2.8 Aristotle ................................................. 14
3 ColourTheoryDuringtheMiddleAges .......................... 19
3.1 Alhazen .................................................. 19
3.2 Vitello ................................................... 21
4 TheModernEraofColourTheory ............................... 23
4.1 LeonardodaVinci ......................................... 23
4.2 JohannesKepler ........................................... 26
4.3 RenéDescartes ........................................... 32
4.4 IsaacNewton ............................................. 35
4.5 ChristiaanHuygens ........................................ 38
4.6 ImmanuelKant ........................................... 41
4.7 GeorgePalmer ............................................ 42
4.8 Goethe ................................................... 44
4.9 ThomasYoung ............................................ 45
4.10 Augustin-JeanFresnel ..................................... 50
4.11 ArthurSchopenhauer ...................................... 54
4.12 JohannesMüller ........................................... 58
4.13 WilliamHamilton ......................................... 64
4.14 HermannGünterGrassmann ................................ 66
4.15 HermannvonHelmholtz ................................... 69
ix
x Contents
4.16 JamesClerkMaxwell ...................................... 77
4.17 EwaldHering ............................................. 80
4.18 GottlobFrege ............................................. 85
4.19 JohannesvonKries ........................................ 87
4.20 ArthurKönig ............................................. 92
4.21 RamónyCajal ............................................ 95
4.22 StephenPolyak ........................................... 98
4.23 ErwinSchrödinger ........................................ 102
4.24 LudwigWittgenstein ....................................... 107
4.25 GestaltPsychology ........................................ 109
4.26 JohnGuild ............................................... 111
5 Epilogue ....................................................... 127
References ........................................................ 133
List of Figures
Fig.1.1 The timeline of the development of Optics according
toThomasYoung(1807) ................................ 3
Fig.2.1 TheSchoolOfAthensbyRaffaelloSanzioDaUrbino ........ 7
Fig.2.2 JanSaenredam’sengravingofPlato’sAllegoryoftheCave .... 13
Fig.3.1 ThestructureofthehumaneyebyAlhazen ................. 20
Fig.3.2 CoverpagefromRisner’sOpticaethesaurus ................ 21
Fig.3.3 Vitello’sstereovisiondiagramfromRisner’sOpticae
thesaurus ............................................. 22
Fig.4.1 Leonardo Da Vinci’s concept of double ray crossing
intheeye ............................................. 25
Fig.4.2 AnatomicaldrawingsofthehumaneyefromKepler’s
ParalipomenatoWiteloandtheOpticalPartofAstronomy,
attributedtoFelixPlatter ................................ 30
Fig.4.3 Kepler’sdiagramthatdemonstratestheopticsofimage
inversion .............................................. 31
Fig.4.4 Descartes’ graph of human visual perception
fromTractacusdehomine(Descartes,1677) ................ 33
Fig.4.5 Descartes’graphofthehumaneyefromDehominefiguris
(Descartes,1664) ...................................... 33
Fig.4.6 ReproductionofNewton’sfigureontherefractionthrough
aprism(AX.VIII.intheOpticksstatesthattheobject
D seenthroughaprismappearstobeinpositiond due
torefraction) .......................................... 36
Fig.4.7 ReproductionofNewton’sdrawingforhisthirdexperiment
onsupportofPropositionII,TheoremII(thatthesunlight
consistsofdifferentlyrefrangiblerays) ..................... 37
Fig.4.8 ReproductionofNewton’scolourcircle;drawingadapted
fromtheOpticks ....................................... 38
Fig.4.9 Huygens’depictionofthelightwavesfromacandleflame ..... 40
Fig.4.10 Huygens’depictionofthepropagationoflightwaves ......... 40
Fig.4.11 Huygens’depictionofreflection .......................... 41
xi