This is a picture of the colors Thomas believed the Three receptors in our eyes could see!
My Blog for Chemistry about the book " The Last Man Who Knew Everything" by: Andrew Robinson
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
The Theory Of Light and Colors!
In 1802 Thomas published " On The Theory Of Light And Colors" in this he put forth a theory that he later on question.. He believed that the eye had three specific receptors for three different colors it could see. Red, Yellow, and Blue. Red being the highest wavelength, would stimulate one receptor, yellow being the next wavelength would stimulate another and blue being the smallest wavelength would stimulate the third receptor. He believed to see other colors such as green the yellow and the blue receptor would be stimulated and then processed by the brain. But then he figured the three receptors were for red green and violet. However, both possibilities were slightly wrong, because Young had left out the photo-pigment sensitive to light.
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I guess our understanding of light and colors has come quite away since then, and I guess he really wasn't the last man to know everything!
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