• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Science / Who Made the First Color Photograph In History and How Did James Clerk Maxwell Make the First Color Photo?

Who Made the First Color Photograph In History and How Did James Clerk Maxwell Make the First Color Photo?

July 10, 2020 by Karen Hill

James Clerk Maxwell made the first color photograph in history, and he was only 18 when he made it.

While he was still at Edinburgh University, Maxwell decided to study how human eyes detect color.

He was very interested in a theory that said that the eye has three types of fibers that are sensitive to the different light waves for red, green, and blue.

When light waves strike these fibers, they create electrical signals that travel to the brain. The color sensations that arise in the brain correspond to these electrical signals.

British physicist Thomas Young first proposed the theory in 1801.

Maxwell devised a color top with sections painted red, green, and blue to test the theory.

He showed that by spinning these primary colors, all other colors could be produced. It was a simple confirmation of Young’s theory.

Maxwell also proposed that color blindness was simply a defect in one or more of the fibers.

Maxwell’s interest in optics continued throughout his life. Several years after his study of color vision, he took the first color photograph in history.

He used red, green, and blue filters to expose three frames of film and then combined the images.

Maxwell then projected the film through the colored filters and produced a color photograph.

Related Facts

  • Why Are Primary Colors Blue, Green, and Red In Science But Blue, Yellow, and Red In Art Class?
  • Who Discovered Electromagnetic Radiation, Radio Waves, and Electromagnetic Spectrum?
  • Who Was James Clerk Maxwell and Why Was Maxwell’s Work In Electromagnetism a Major Advancement In Physics?
  • How Did James Clerk Maxwell Turn Michael Faraday’s Field Theory Into a Map of the Universe?
  • Does the Moon Ever Really Turn Blue?
  • Why Are Traffic Lights Arranged Red Yellow Green From the Top and Why Are Railway Signal Colors Different?

Filed Under: Science

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « How Did James Clerk Maxwell Determine the Composition of the Rings Around the Planet Saturn?
Next Post: How Did Enrico Fermi Split the Atom and How Did Fermi Discover Nuclear Fission Which Produced Energy? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy