Chemistry International
Vol. 23, No.3
May 2001
New Book
Color:
A Multidisciplinary Approach
A new book by Heinrich Zollinger, published by Wiley-VCH,
Weinheim, Germany and Verlag Helvetica Chimica Acta, Zürich, Switzerland.
Hardcover, 1999, x + pp. 1-258. ISBN 3-906390-18-7, USD 120.00, GBP
59.50, DM 198, CHF 176.
Contents
Preface; Contents; Introduction: What do We Mean by Color?/Historical
Survey; Physics of Light and Color: The Nature (Theory) of Light/Color
by Refraction: Newton' s Experiments/Color of the Rainbow/ Peacock'
s Colors, a Phenomenon of Interference/How Many Causes of Color Do We
Know?; Chemistry of Color: History of Colorants/Inorganic Pigments/Organic
Colorants/Correlations between Chemical Structure and Color of Chemical
Compounds; Colorimetry: Color Measurements/ColorHarmony or Contrasts?;
How Do We See Colors: Perception and Cognition of Color/Anatomy of the
Human Eye/Photochemistry of the Retina/What Does the Eye Tell the Brain?/Psycho-physical
Investigations on Color Vision/Color Vision of Animals; How Do We Name
Colors?: From Color Chemistry to Color Linguistics/The Phenomenon (Prodigy)
of Human Language/Categorization of the Color Space by Color Naming/Color
and Phonological Universals/Cultural Influence on Color Naming; Color
in Art and in Other Cultural Activities: Color in European Art from
Antiquity to Gothic/From Renaissance to Neo-Impressionism/Art in the
20th Century/Color in the Art of Non-European Culture: The Case of Japan/Color
in Psychology/Goethe' s "Farbenlehre"/Sound-Color Synesthesia; Epilogue;
Acknowledgments; Author Index; Subject Index
This book by Heinrich Zollinger, an emeritus professor at the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and past President and current
Affiliate Member of IUPAC, is sure to interest many readers of CI. After
all, as stated on the Wiley-VCH web site, "Who is not attracted, fascinated,
or even amazed by the world of colors?" Prof. Zollinger spent his long
career specializing in color and textile chemistry, and he has had a
lifelong love affair with the spectrum between red and violet. He writes
in a very accessible manner that will appeal to chemists, physicists,
neuroscientists, psychologists, ophthalmologists, interior designers,
painters, and visual artists of all types. Thomas Lazar, a professor
in the Department of Molecular Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical
Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany, writes in his review in Science
(Vol. 288, p. 1351, 26 May 2000) that the text is "accompanied by informative
graphics and many high-quality reproductions of photographs and paintings".
Prof. Zollinger also discusses the role of linguistics in designating
special terms to describe colors and colorfulness. As Prof. Lazar states
in his review, "Zollinger' s account is itself a kaleidoscope of color.
The chapters proceed in a logical order from the physics of light and
the chemistry of colorants, through the biology of vision, to the culture
of visual arts. Each, however, can be read independently, which makes
it easy to dive into the next, wherever one is lured. After exploring
Zollinger' s varied perspectives, readers will look at the colorful
world around them with increased awareness and appreciation".
>
this
book on the Wiley site