~Jandy Nelson
Swiss physicist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure was my inspiration for today's post. He made a cyanometer to determine exactly how blue the sky was. Mountain climbers had noticed that the sky became a deeper blue the higher up you went and Saussure wanted to measure it.
"In 1802, [geographer Alexander von] Humboldt took the tool on an ascent of the Andean mountain Chimborazo, where he set a new record, at the 46th degree of blue, for the darkest sky ever measured." (Sarah Laskow, Atlas Obscura)
Cyanometer, 1789
by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure
Groton Long Point, 1910
by Henry Ward Ranger
A Girl Copying a Drawing
by Martin Drolling
“In the year 1533 a horse in the air was seen in Bohemia, and a horseman, as if he wanted to mount it, just as is painted here"
by Augsburger Wunderzeichenbuch, c. 1550
A cyanometer! That is just the best thing I've heard in a while.
ReplyDeleteYep, a cyanometer is *very* cool. When I hear the term "sky blue," I wonder which blue? ;-)
ReplyDeleteReally nice examples with the paintings, Tabatha.
And hats off to Horace-Bénédict de Saussure!