Newton and colour

Although everyone will know the name of Sir Isaac Newton, many will only know him for his Principa Mathematica which laid down the foundations for laws on universal gravitation.

Colour people know Newton for different reasons; refraction of light, the colour spectrum and optics theory are all derived from Newton’s research in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Newton’s Theory of Colour and colour wheel directly influenced the groundbreaking work of Albert Munsell, whose colour system is widely used in industrial colour control and measurement today.

We owe Newton a debt of thanks for the beginnings of a truly scientific approach to  measurable colour without which we might still be blundering about in the dark!