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| A History of Light and Colour Measurement. Science in the Shadows | Buy a book...
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| Author(s): | S. F. Johnston |
| Publisher: | Institute of Physics |
| ISBN: | 0750307544 |
| Format: | hardback |
| 281pp | |
| Price: | £45.00, $75.00 |
| Review Date: | 06 November 2001 |
| Review: | This book recounts how the brightness and colour of light were transformed into measurable and trustworthy quantities. The story spans 250 years. In the 18th century the quest gained sporadic attention from astronomers and workers in the gas-lighting industry. By the turn of the century the illuminating engineering movement was promoting research into the measurement of light intensity. In the 20th century physical scientists aimed to 'replace' the human eye by a physical light detector. After the Second World War military designers influenced radiometry and subsumed photometry and colorimetry within it. This history puts the work of the physicists in judging the brightness and colour of light in a social context. |