Four Pigments of Sight
Plate 098 Physics Poster
Plate 98 speaks for itself: “Colour is a vote among three cone pigments.”
The Physics
The human retina has four visual pigments: rhodopsin in rods and three cone opsins. Each cell's response is its pigment's sensitivity weighted by the incoming spectrum.
R = ∫ S(λ) s(λ) dλ
- R: photoreceptor response, arbitrary units
- S(λ): spectral power of the light, W m⁻³
- s(λ): pigment spectral sensitivity, dimensionless
- λ: wavelength, m
Measured by microspectrophotometry. Bowmaker & Dartnall, 1980.
Sources
- J. K. Bowmaker, H. J. A. Dartnall, J. Physiol. 298, 501 (1980).
On the poster
Plate 098, “Four Pigments of Sight”: the pixel-art plate with its slogan “Colour is a vote among three cone pigments.”, the key equation and the facts panel shown above. Pixelated Physics. Physics. Personified.
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Field notes
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