The colorimetric properties of the spectrum

Abstract

The paper describes an investigation carried out at the National Physical Laboratory to determine the colorimetric properties of a group of seven subjects as obtained from direct measurements of the trichromatic coefficients of the spectrum on a trichromatic colorimeter. The “spectral distribution curves of the primaries,” by means of which the colorimetric quality of a heterochromatic stimulus may be computed from its energy distribution curve, are obtained by combining the experimentally determined trichromatic coefficients with the International Standard visibility curve. This procedure is a simplification, applicable to the mean results of a normal group, of a general method by which the chromatic and luminosity functions of any subject or group of subjects can be determined from one set of observations. The general method is described in an Appendix.