Magazine
September-October 2005
September-October 2005
Volume: 93 Number: 5
School buses across the United States, such as these lined up to haul students of Edmonds School District #15 near Seattle,Washington, are painted exactly the same yellow color, making the school bus an icon immediately recognizable to adults and children alike. But how do bus manufacturers—or any other production companies—ensure that their merchandise conforms to standard colors? In "Charting Color from the Eye of the Beholder," Edward R. Landa and Mark D. Fairchild tell the history of a century-old colorimetry system whose imprint is still visible in business, science and technology. Variants of the system developed by the artist Albert Henry Munsell are used in the color standard charts from 1981 and 1997 followed by school bus manufacturers. (Cover photograph by Philip James Corwin/Corbis.)
In This Issue
- Agriculture
- Astronomy
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Communications
- Computer
- Economics
- Engineering
- Environment
- Ethics
- Evolution
- Mathematics
- Medicine
- Physics
- Policy
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Technology
Detecting Illicit Nuclear Materials
Richard Kouzes
Physics Policy Technology
The installation of radiological monitoring equipment in the United States and overseas is helping thwart nuclear terrorism.
Cheating Viruses and Game Theory
Paul E. Turner
Evolution Mathematics
The theory of games can explain how viruses evolve when they compete against one another in a test of evolutionary fitness
Charting Color from the Eye of the Beholder
Edward Landa, Mark Fairchild
Physics
A century ago, artist Albert Henry Munsell quantified colors based on how they appear to people; specializations of his system are still in wide scientific use
Water Fountains with Special Effects
Said Shakerin
Computer Physics Sociology
Although they were likely invented just to deliver water, fountains became much more than reservoirs early in human history
