Those speeches fired the young chemist’s enthusiasm further, and he later went on to attend the Royal College of Chemistry, which he succeeded in entering in 1853, at the age of 15.Īt the time of Perkin’s enrolment, the Royal College of Chemistry was headed by the noted German chemist August Wilhelm Hofmann. His talent and devotion to the subject were perceived by his teacher, Thomas Hall, who encouraged him to attend a series of lectures given by the eminent scientist Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution.

But it was a chance stumbling upon a run-down, yet functional, laboratory in his late grandfather’s home that solidified the young man’s enthusiasm for chemistry.Īs a student at the City of London School, Perkin became immersed in the study of chemistry. Purples can be formed by mixing red and blue pigments, but the first truly violet pigment was cobalt violet, prepared in 1859.William Henry Perkin was born on March 12,1838, in London, England.Īs a boy, Perkin’s curiosity prompted early interests in the arts, sciences, photography, and engineering. Some confusion exists concerning the color names 'purple' and 'violet.” Purple is typically defined as a mixture of red and blue light, whereas violet is a specific spectral color (approximately 380-420 nm). On a chromaticity diagram, the line connecting the extreme spectral colors red and violet is known as the “line of purples.” Purples are the shades of color occurring between red and blue. Therefore, Porphyrogenitus ('born to the purple') was the name of an emperor which gained his throne by dinasty and not by force. Byzantine empresses gave birth in the Purple Chamber. In human color psychology, purple is associated with royalty and nobility because Tyrian purple was only affordable to the elite. The word “purple” comes from the Old English word “purpul,” which is from the Latin “purpura” and from the ancient Greek “porphyra.” This was the name of the Tyrian purple dye manufactured in classical antiquity. They begin with a medium-dark cochineal and over dye it with an indigo to produce a violet, a secondary color. There is something beautifully real about seeing a snowflake dissolve in a steaming pot of wine red cochineal.

On the low hills south of Goshen, New York, a farm with a little flock of sheep hand dyes its own yarn.

Mimicking ancient methods of purple dyeing with carmine and indigo.

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