Colour Theory and Perception 101

Ancient Greek philosopher who proposed that light is composed of particles emitted by luminous objects, creating the illusion of light emanating from the source.

Ancient Greek philosopher who believed that color perception is caused by the different shapes and arrangements of atoms.

Ancient Greek philosopher who associated colors with the four classical elements - Fire, Water, Air, and Earth.

Ancient Greek philosopher who proposed that color arises from the mixture of light and darkness, explaining the color variations in nature.

Ancient Greek philosopher who applied geometry to study the properties of light, laying the foundation for future optical studies.

Arab scientist who explored the propagation and refraction of light through different materials.

An Arab scientist who contributed to the understanding of light and its propagation through different materials.

An Arabic scientist who revolutionized optics with his book "Book of Optics." His work emphasized the importance of experiments and explained that vision is a result of light entering the eye.

A medieval scholar who explored the symbolic and scientific significance of light, acknowledging its importance in understanding the natural world.

A medieval philosopher who connected light and color to both the divine and the physical world.

An astronomer who investigated the formation of images in the eye and its relationship to celestial bodies.

A Dutch scientist who formulated Snell's Law, explaining the bending of light when transitioning between different mediums.

A polymath whose extensive studies on light and shadow contributed to artistic realism and scientific understanding.

A scientist who demonstrated that white light is composed of various colors using a prism. He identified the spectral colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

A continuous spectrum shows all wavelengths of light, creating a smooth rainbow-like appearance.

Emission spectra are produced by hot, low-density gases emitting light at specific wavelengths, creating bright lines.

Absorption spectra occur when a cooler gas absorbs specific wavelengths of light from a continuous source, creating dark lines.

Fraunhofer's spectral lines are dark lines in the Sun's spectrum.

Stellar spectroscopy is the study of light from stars to determine their composition, temperature, and other properties.

Annie Jump Cannon's classification system (OBAFGKM) organizes stars by temperature, where O stars are hottest (blue) and M stars are coolest (red).

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin discovered that stars are primarily composed of hydrogen.

Spectral analysis is the process of studying the spectrum of light to determine the properties of celestial objects.

A system for classifying colors using hue, value (lightness), and chroma (intensity), like organizing crayons by shade and brightness.

A subtractive color model used in printing, mixing cyan, magenta, and yellow to create colors.

An additive color model used in screens, combining red, green, and blue to produce colors, like a phone screen using tiny lights to create white.

A standardized system for defining human color perception using a color space, which includes all visible colors

A more perceptually uniform color space for applications like color matching, creating a more accurate representation of how we see colors.

Electromagnetic radiation detectable by the human eye, with wavelengths ranging from 400 to 700 nanometers, like ripples in a pond but much faster.

Includes various types of radiation, from gamma rays to radio waves, with visible light occupying only a small portion of its spectrum.

The theory that color perception involves opposing pairs, such as red-green and blue-yellow, like seeing green dots after staring at red.

Light travels in straight lines called rays.

Light being absorbed by an object and converted to heat.

Light passing through an object.

Light separating into colors based on its wavelength.

Light bending as it enters a medium with a different density.

Light bouncing off a surface.

Light scattering in many directions when hitting small particles.

Measures how much light slows down and bends in a medium.

A pattern of bright and dark bands formed when light waves overlap, caused by constructive and destructive interference.

The phenomenon where light waves reflect from the top and bottom surfaces of a thin layer, creating interference patterns and vibrant colors.

A surface with regularly spaced structures that can split light into its individual colors.

Optical instruments that use lenses or mirrors to magnify and collect light from distant objects.

Electronic devices that convert light into electronic signals for digital imaging.

Stunning displays of colorful lights in the sky caused by charged particles from the sun colliding with Earth's atmosphere.

A colorful arc formed when sunlight is refracted, reflected, and dispersed in raindrops.