A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Ragona-Scina's (1847) Method for, and Observations of, Simultaneous Color Contrast
Authors: Robert P. O’Shea, Stefano Brini, Nicholas J. Wade
Publisher: SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
Publication year: 2016
Journal: i-Perception
Journal name in source: I-PERCEPTION
Journal acronym: I-PERCEPTION
Article number: ARTN 2041669516643239
Volume: 7
Issue: 2
Number of pages: 13
ISSN: 2041-6695
eISSN: 2041-6695
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2041669516643239
Web address : http://ipe.sagepub.com/content/7/2/2041669516643239.full
Abstract
In 1847, Domenico Ragona-Scina (1820-1892) published a method of optically superimposing images using an angled piece of colored glass. He showed that if one looks at a black, filled circle through the colored glass and superimposes on it the reflection from the glass of something white, the filled circle looks tinted with the complementary color of the background: simultaneous color contrast or contrast color. Although Ragona-Scina's method and his observation have been cited into the 21st century, the former for its simplicity and the latter for its challenges to early theories of color vision, some errors have crept in and the phenomenon still lacks an agreed-on explanation. We provide some biographical information about Ragona-Scina, set the method and the observation into their historical and theoretical contexts, and give a translation into English of Ragona-Scina's Italian-language paper.
In 1847, Domenico Ragona-Scina (1820-1892) published a method of optically superimposing images using an angled piece of colored glass. He showed that if one looks at a black, filled circle through the colored glass and superimposes on it the reflection from the glass of something white, the filled circle looks tinted with the complementary color of the background: simultaneous color contrast or contrast color. Although Ragona-Scina's method and his observation have been cited into the 21st century, the former for its simplicity and the latter for its challenges to early theories of color vision, some errors have crept in and the phenomenon still lacks an agreed-on explanation. We provide some biographical information about Ragona-Scina, set the method and the observation into their historical and theoretical contexts, and give a translation into English of Ragona-Scina's Italian-language paper.
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