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All the colours of the rainbow

Nature Physics volume 10, pages 540–542 (2014)Cite this article

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Our perception of colour has always been a source of fascination, so it's little wonder that studies of the phenomenon date back hundreds of years. What, though, can modern scientists learn from medieval literature — and how do we go about it?

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Figure 1: Rainbow loci in a perceptual colour coordinate space (using the CIELAB — Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage, with axes L*, a* and b* — definition).
Figure 2: Spiral colour coordinate systems.

References

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Acknowledgements

The Ordered Universe Project is supported by International Network Grant AH/K003658/1 from the AHRC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK, and at Pembroke College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1DW, UK,

    Hannah E. Smithson

  2. Department of History, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3EX, UK

    Giles E. M. Gasper

  3. Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

    Tom C. B. McLeish

Authors
  1. Hannah E. Smithson
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  2. Giles E. M. Gasper
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  3. Tom C. B. McLeish
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Correspondence to Hannah E. Smithson.

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Smithson, H., Gasper, G. & McLeish, T. All the colours of the rainbow. Nature Phys 10, 540–542 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3052

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