Olaf Breidbach und AndrŽ Karliczek:
Himmelblau – das Cyanometer des Horace-BŽnŽdict
de Saussure (1740–1799)
The cyanometer is a simply constructed measuring
instrument that enables a determination of skyblue. It consists of a
color-scale that is arranged circularly going in equal steps from white to blue
(Prussian blue) and finally into black. According to its inventor –
Horace-BŽnŽdict de Saussure – the azure is determined by the amount of so
called opaque vapors in the
atmosphere associated with meteorological phenomena. As outlined by De
Saussure, the blackness of the universe seen through an illuminated and blurred
medium results in azure. Thereby his instrument offers a relative scale that is
consistent with color theories of his time like those of Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe. The description allows the construction of the scale without the
employment of standardized color-prints. Instead he provides a clear report of
the necessary procedures to produce such a scale. The accuracy of this
description is tested and discussed employing the methods of experimental
history of science. The reception of the cyanometer in the time about 1800 and
its implications on color theories is discussed.
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