11. Surgical scrubs first appeared in operating rooms at the turn of the 20th century and they were white in color. What color did they become by the 1950s?
From Quiz Chromatology
Answer:
Green or blue
Initially, surgeons did not wear anything but their clothes and a butcher's apron and operated with bare hands in open amphitheatres with people watching the procedure while they were coughing, sneezing, even smoking. The 1918 flu pandemic and new research on sterilization methods brought the white scrubs, caps and thick rubber gloves. By the middle of the 20th century, researchers had observed that the white color caused headaches, dizziness and eye strain because of the contrast with the red blood on the operating table. Green was chosen as the opposite (complementary) of red on the color wheel. It was found to refresh the surgeon's sight from the red inner parts of a body and, also, to eliminate the green flashes the brain "sees" when looking at a white surface after staring at red for a long time. Nowadays, surgeon's scrubs can be a rainbow of colors but green is still considered the best choice.