The Universe in 100 Colors

The Universe in 100 Colors

Dear Reader:

Through my endeavor to find the most fascinating matter our planet has to offer for my scientific subscription box, Matter, I have seen many unique scientific phenomena. Color, the range of energy that fills the visible universe, has been a constant highlight throughout this journey.
From the intricate patterns and brilliant hues of minerals formed deep beneath the Earth's surface; to distant galaxies creating grand displays of exploding, dying, and newly-forming stars, this vibrant range has not only illuminated my path but revealed hidden connections between everything across the universe, both known and unknown.

In this book, you will find not just a collection of colors, but a spectral celebration of the profound, the enigmatic, and the outright mind-blowing. Each color included here represents a mystery unraveled. From the mesmerizing blue of a quasar to the haunting glow of foxfire, the colors in these pages are the keys to understanding some of the most captivating phenomena in the natural world.

This book is a labor of love, born from countless hours of research, discussions with experts in the most esoteric fields, and my firsthand observations. It's my hope that these colors will inspire you, challenge you, and reveal the interconnections to be found between everything in the entire universe. Now, it's your turn to explore. Enjoy the revelations that await within these pages.
 
—Terry Mudge


As an artist and citizen scientist it’s only natural that this intersection would bring my career to the big questions about color. What is a “color”? How are colors even able to exist in the first place? I began a pursuit to not only understand colors, but to synthesize them in my studio/ lab through the wonders of nanoparticle science.
 
After dedicating several years of my creative career to synthesizing crystals and minerals, I decided to tackle one of the most alluring mineraloids of them all, the opal, that master conductor of the orchestra of light play. The journey to synthesizing opals is a tricky one. It’s an endeavor that requires immense patience, structural stability, and fine tuning to the degree of just a few hundred nanometers. My countless experiments involved late nights waving my iphone flashlight across dozens of oil filled jars hoping white blobs would reveal flashes of color.
 
It would take a solid year of tinkering and hundreds of failed experiments before I would create some of the world’s first lab-grown opalized insects and flowers. Along the way, I deepened my love of color and furthered my understanding of it. My obsession with projects that depend on color and light led to this book, where I can share what I’ve learned in hopes that you too can see what all the fuss is about.
 
—Tyler Thrasher