For centuries, scientists, artists, and philosophers have tried to pin down a “perfect” way to map color. But here’s the problem: color isn’t just physics, and it isn’t just perception—it’s both. Try to squeeze it into a neat geometric model, and you’ll quickly realize it refuses to stay put.
That’s what makes French video essayist Alessandro Roussel’s latest ScienceClic piece so fascinating for educators. He takes us from Isaac Newton’s prism experiments all the way to modern models of hue, brightness, and saturation. Along the way, he shows why there isn’t just one map of color, but many. Each communicates something different about how humans experience this slippery phenomenon.
So what’s the classroom connection?
- In art: Students can compare different models of color—Newton’s circle, Munsell’s tree, the modern RGB cube—and reflect on how each changes the way we think about mixing, matching, or designing with color.
- In science: Teachers can use these models to illustrate how physics collides with perception. Why do two people see the “same” red differently? How does light wavelength interact with the human eye and brain?
- In interdisciplinary projects: Color mapping opens doors to conversations about how humans create systems to explain the unexplainable. It’s a perfect bridge between STEM and the humanities.
And then comes the kicker for students who think we’ve “solved” everything already: scientists recently managed to engineer a new, so-called impossible color called ‘olo’—a shade outside the traditional visible spectrum.
It’s a reminder that color isn’t just a solved equation or a finished wheel. It’s a living, shifting puzzle that still invites curiosity, wonder, and experimentation.
Imagine giving your students that as a challenge: If color can’t be mapped perfectly, what’s your best attempt?
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