Cavendish Laboratory : Maxwell's colour wheel (colour image)

Cavendish Laboratory

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Colour photograph of Maxwell's 1855 colour wheel. In 1855, Maxwell began his studies of the quantitative theory of colour while a research fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge. The mixing of different amounts of the primary red, green and blue lights could synthesise any colour. The merging of the colours was achieved by rotating the disc rapidly. The central black and white sectors enabled a grey comparison light to be synthesised.</p>