The Accidental Discovery of YInMn Blue

Did you know that one of the world's most beautiful colors was created by total

accident? In 2009, Professor Mas Subramanian and his team at Oregon State

University were trying to create new materials for electronics. They mixed black manganese oxide with

other chemicals and prepared to heat them to extreme temperatures. They blasted the

mixture in a furnace at over two thousand degrees Fahrenheit. But when they

pulled the sample out, they didn't find a high-tech material. They found this.

A brilliant, vivid blue pigment that had never been seen before in nature or

a lab. They named it YInMn Blue. It was the first new blue