The first new blue in 200 years is now available for purchase
Updated Feb 05, 2021;
Posted Jan 28, 2021
The newest pigment of blue to be discovered in roughly 200 years is now available for purchase. (photo by OSU/Mas Subramanian/Andrew E. Smith)
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You can now purchase the first new blue to be discovered in over 200 hundred years.
Called “YInMn,” the blue was accidentally created by a graduate student at Oregon State University in 2009. Now, over a decade later, it’s commercially available for anyone interested in adding a new shade to their surroundings.
Hyperallergic explains that Andrew E. Smith accidentally mixed yttrium, indium, manganese, and oxygen together while he and his fellow team of scientists were testing various earth elements for their potential use in electronics. He was instead presented with the brilliant blue of YInMn.
You Can Now Buy the First New Shade of Blue in 200 Years
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“Something funny?”
“No, no, nothing. Y’know, it’s just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. Y’know, I’m still learning about all this stuff.”
Fashion designers and visual artists know exactly what follows this exchange in
The Devil Wears Prada. Meryl Streep‘s Miranda Priestly delivers a great monologue about the meaningful differences between turquoise, lapis, and cerulean. But right now I relate more to Anne Hathaway‘s Andy Sachs. Because the first new shade of blue discovered in 200 years is finally available commercially. Yet, even though it’s beautiful, I can’t helping but think, “Yup. That’s definitely blue.”