Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World. (Science News Books).Simon Garfield. Hoping to find a cure for malaria malaria, infectious parasitic disease that can be either acute or chronic and is frequently recurrent. Malaria is common in Africa, Central and South America, the Mediterranean countries, Asia, and many of the Pacific islands. , 18-year-old chemist William Perkin in 1856 concocted a mixture that exuded a stunning hue when dispensed on silk. Mauve, the not-quite purple color, caused a sensation in the fashion industry. Perkin had inadvertently created the first synthetic dye synthetic dye n. Any of the organic dyes originally derived from coal-tar derivatives, but currently synthesized from benzene and its derivatives. that would lead to the development of other shades of Noun 1. shades of - something that reminds you of someone or something; "aren't there shades of 1948 here?" reminder - an experience that causes you to remember something blue, violet, crimson, and green. His revolutionary use of applied chemistry had a far-reaching influence that bled into other sciences, from biochemistry to medicine. With a complete biographical overview, Garfield reveals how one seemingly inconsequential in·con·se·quen·tial adj. 1. Lacking importance. 2. Not following from premises or evidence; illogical. n. A triviality. finding transformed one man's life and the field of chemistry forever. Norton, 2001, 222 p., b&w and color plates, hardcover, $23.95. |
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