Not to scale. Each coloured band is an era, not a real colour of light.
How to read this prism
- White strip on the left, labelled "White light": a beam of ordinary light, the thing every idea here tries to explain.
- Clear triangle, labelled "Glass prism": the beam enters it and spreads into colours, as Newton showed in the 1660s.
- Six coloured bands: one band per era. Red (top) is the oldest era, Era 1. Violet (bottom) is the newest, Era 6. The colours only mark eras: they are not the colours each scientist studied.
- Faint dashed labels beyond the bands: Infrared, Microwave and Radio above the red side; Ultraviolet, X-ray and Gamma below the violet side. These kinds of light are invisible to our eyes and were found in the 1800s and 1900s.
- Glowing stars on a band: one discovery, model or experiment each, in time order. The star nearest the prism is the oldest in that era, the farthest is the newest. The stars twinkle only to catch your eye.
- Small white ring around a star: you have already opened that card.
- Labels: a name is hidden if it would cover another name. Point at a star to see its name, years, who and a one-line summary. Zoom in to see more names.
- Drag with the left mouse button (or one finger) to turn the scene a little. Example: drag sideways and you see the prism from the side, so its thickness shows.
- Mouse wheel or pinch to zoom. Example: roll the wheel forward and the stars come closer, so more names have room to appear.
- Right-drag or shift-drag (two fingers on a phone) to slide the view.
- Click a star: the camera flies to it and its card opens. The browser Back button brings you back here.
- Pause shimmer stops the gentle flicker of the beam and stars. Names hides or shows the star names. Reset view returns to the starting view.
- Era chips under the prism: click one to fly to that band and list its discoveries. Click it again to show all eras.