The Color of the Future: A history of blue
6 days ago
- #art
- #technology
- #history
- The author's favorite color has changed over time, with blue being initially dismissed as common but later appreciated for its rarity and technological significance.
- Blue pigments are rare in nature, leading to various historical inventions and discoveries to create blue artificially, from indigo dye to Egyptian blue and beyond.
- Indigo dye, derived from plants in the Indigofera genus, became a luxury item traded globally, playing a role in colonial economies and slavery.
- Egyptian blue, the first synthetic pigment, was created around 3250 BC but its manufacturing method was lost until reconstructed in modern times.
- Other historical blue pigments include Han blue in China, cobalt blue in porcelain, and ultramarine from lapis lazuli, which was extremely costly and labor-intensive to produce.
- Prussian blue, discovered accidentally in 1706, became the first modern synthetic pigment, revolutionizing art and industrial applications like blueprints.
- The 19th and 20th centuries saw the development of synthetic ultramarine, phthalo blue, and food colorings like brilliant blue FCF, expanding blue's industrial and artistic uses.
- Blue LEDs, developed in the 1990s, completed the visible light spectrum, making blue light widely accessible and reinforcing its association with futuristic technology.
- Science fiction often uses blue for interfaces and futuristic themes, possibly due to cultural associations with rarity, technology, and the difficulty of producing blue historically.
- The history of blue reflects human ingenuity in overcoming natural scarcity, making it a symbol of artificial creation and technological progress.