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Mauve: How one man invented a colour that changed the world (Canons).

Back in 1856, a young man was doing some scientific experiment by himself, and suddenly, things went wrong. The operation failed, and he ended up with nothing but a tremendous brown sludge in his hands… Or so he thought it was nothing.

You see, the young and naive chemistry student soon realized what he had in his hands was something unique. Even tho his experiment failed miserably; he was left with a discoverement that changed the world, even if he didn’t know that himself at the moment.

William Perkins, the chemistry student whose experiment went terrible, unknowingly discovered Mauve, the purple-dyed that changed not only science but fashion itself, taking the world by storm in a matter of seconds.

Mauve: How one man invented a colour that changed the world, talks about how this young chemistry student, William Perkins, discovered the world’s first synthetic dye, and how his lucky discovering ultimately shape both science and fashion.

There are few discoveries quite like this one in science history. Sure, many tend to impact both science and medicine, or biology, or physics, but a few combine such complete two opposites: Fashion and science. But this one did.

You see, nobody knew it back then, especially not Willian, but Mauve, this bright purple colour that seemed to dye everything that it went into contact with it, revolutionized the fashion and science world at the very same time.

In one hand, the fashion industry had discovered a new colour, and soon enough you will see it everywhere you go. In ribbons, in clothes, in accessories, literally this particular shade of purple invaded everyone’s life and became even more accessible through the years.

And then, there’s the impact it had on science. You see the mauve dye was (and still is) used for many things and responsible for many others. Without it, fabricating and testing vaccines wouldn’t be possible. Some medical tests wouldn’t be able to happen, and many scientific types of research wouldn’t be taken place as we speak.

What everyone thought was nothing but a mistake, turned out to be one of the most important discoveries of all time, and William Perkin became famous. If you’re up for reading about a fascinating story behind one of the many colours we use today and how it changed science (and fashion), then this book is the right one for you!