The Rainbow Bridge
Rainbows in Art, Myth, and Science
408 pages | 97 color/63 b&w illustrations | 8 1/2 x 11 | 2001
ISBN 978-0-271-01977-2 | cloth: $36.95 tr
Paperback edition is not available
Co-published with SPIE Optical Engineering Press
"This smart, impassioned cross-disciplinary study, with its many color photos and illustrations, provides an eight-course feast for the intellect and the eyes."
—Publishers Weekly
"Over it, under it, sideways, you name the angle: a spectacular cultural history of the rainbow in art, myth and science. It shimmers."
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Stunningly well informed about the art, science, philosophy and history of all eras since the Periclean Golden Age, unerringly elegant, flatteringly intelligent and beautifully illustrated, it is a masterpiece of accessible scholarship."
—Nature
"The Rainbow Bridge traverses an immense ground with style, grace, wit, and insight. It will provide atmospheric scientists with an authoritative account of the scientific and cultural roots of their field. And perhaps most important, it wil make all of us better observers. Atmospheric scientists who may never have thought of themselves as "cultured" may find themselves with an ability to diagnose paintings with unexpected discrimination and knowledge."
—Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Venerated as god and goddess, feared as demon and pestilence, trusted as battle omen, and used as a proving ground for optical theories, the rainbow's image is woven into the fabric of our past and present. From antiquity to the nineteenth century, the rainbow has played a vital role in both inspiring and testing new ideas about the physical world. Although scientists today understand the rainbow's underlying optics fairly well, its subtle variability in nature has yet to be fully explained.
Throughout history the rainbow has been seen primarily as a symbol—of peace, covenant, or divine sanction—rather than as a natural phenomenon. Lee and Fraser discuss the role the rainbow has played in societies throughout the ages, contrasting its guises as a sign of optimism, bearer of Greek gods' messages of war and retribution, and a symbol of the Judeo-Christian bridge to the divine.
The authors traverse the bridges between the rainbow's various roles as they explore its scientific, artistic, and folkloric visions. This unique book, exploring the rainbow from the perspectives of atmospheric optics, art history, color theory, and mythology, will inspire readers to gaze at the rainbow anew.
For more information on The Rainbow Bridge, visit: http://www.usna.edu/Users/oceano/raylee/RainbowBridge/contents.html.
Raymond L. Lee, Jr. is adjunct professor in the Mathematics and Science Division at the U. S. Naval Academy. He has contributed articles to Applied Optics, Journal of the Optical Society of America, Color Research and Application, and New Scientist.
Alistair B. Fraser is professor emeritus of Meteorology at Penn State. His articles have appeared in Smithsonian, Reader's Digest, Scientific American, and Weatherwise.