Best known for his study of electricity, Helmholtz also was a pioneer in the study of color. He extended the theory of Young that color could be represented by combinations of only three colors, as opposed to the seven deemed necessary by Newton. Helmholtz corrected some of Young's mistakes and finalized what is now known as the Young-Helmholtz theory. Remarkably, many years later, when the cone cells in the retina were further studied, they matched the three colors (red, blue, and green) which Helmholtz had predicted.
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