The invention of blues: How things may have happened

Things may well have gone differently. This is a novel and not a scientific treatise, although most of the technical data are correct. In my past life as a scientist, I had to insert in my articles only experimentally proven facts, and every strange idea, or hypothesis perhaps plausible but unproven, had to be left out. All this left me with a sense of dissatisfaction because many of the undocumented ideas might have been valid. In addition, when there are not enough data, it is impossible to reach valid conclusions. I believe in science (I have spent my life within its narrow limits but with the satisfaction of being able to glimpse the unattainable truth within well-defined errors) but I've always envied my colleagues (philosophers, theologians, and novelists) who, after having an idea, did not have to undergo the same rigor to prove it. Now that I am officially retired, I can afford to write whatever comes to my mind, provided that it seems plausible, without having to prove it. I do this with a great sense of liberation and with the hope that it will be of some interest to you, possible readers. I chose to limit the subject to blue, both because I have devoted much effort to it in my scientific life, and because I think it is very interesting. If I had considered the whole palette of colors used in art, this writing would have been so long that no one would have had the courage and the time to read it, much less I to write it. The many images are part of the text and should help the reader to enter the various historical and imaginary environments where the stories take place. For the curious reader, the image captions, written in italics, contain scientific observations that help the reader understand the stories told by the characters, which are necessarily simplistic. In these captions, the scientific rigor is respected and, if not facts, at least ideas that are commonly accepted as true are reported. I hope you will enjoy the reading.