Young–Helmholtz
(jʌŋ ˈhɛlmhɒlts)
The names of Thomas Young and von Helmholtz used attrib. to designate the theory that in the eye there are receptors sensitive to one or other of three colours (red, green, violet) and every colour sensation is due to the stimulation of these in different proportions.
| 1889 in Cent. Dict. 1896 [see trichromatic a.]. 1935 Discovery July 187/2 In 1801, Dr. Thomas Young (1773–1829),..propounded the theory which now, as the result of the latter work of Helmholtz, commonly bears the name of the Young-Helmholtz theory of colour vision. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia VII. 108/2 All the evidence points to the correctness of the Young-Helmholtz hypothesis with respect to the three colour basis. |