Trichromatic theory of colour vision (Young)
Teoría tricromática de la visión del color (Young)
- Date
- 1802 · confidence high
- Place
- London, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Thomas Young
- Field
- Communication
What was discovered
Young proposes at the Royal Society that the eye perceives all colours with three kinds of receptors sensitive to red, green and violet. Helmholtz revived it, and it was confirmed with the identification of three cone types.
Young framed it as a physical hypothesis before its physiological consequences; Maxwell supported it with colour mixing (1855) and Hering later proposed the opponent-process theory (1878), now seen as complementary.
What it led to
- the Young-Helmholtz theory (1850)
- three-primary colour photography and television
- identification of three cone types (20th century)