Light to Have Its Year

Karen A. Newman, Group Publisher, karen.newman@photonics.com

Light, in all its technological glory, will be the center of attention in 2015, thanks to a proclamation late last month in which the UN General Assembly named 2015 the International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies. The announcement affirms the importance of raising awareness of light-based technologies and their potential to solve global issues in energy, education, agriculture, health and more.

We congratulate all those who served on the International Year of Light 2015 committee, whose members represented more than 100 partners in more than 85 countries, including the founding scientific sponsors: European Physical Society, American Physical Society, IEEE Photonics Society, SPIE, the Optical Society (OSA) and the Lightsources.org international network.

For more details about the International Year of Light, you can reread the Photonics Spectra interview with John Dudley of the European Physical Society (LightSpeed, October 2013) and see the news announcement of the UN action at http://photonics.com/a55592. Follow planning and developments throughout the year at Photonics.com.

The International Year of Light coincides with a number of significant light- and optics-related anniversaries, spanning the centuries from 1015 to 1965, according to its organizers. We at Photonics Media appreciate the many scientific milestones that have brought light-based technologies to their world-changing potential.

Since 1954, the founders of Laurin Publishing and Photonics Media have supported the young and dynamic photonics industry through the development of leading directories, magazines, websites and much more, and this year we are proudly celebrating a few milestones of our own. The Photonics Buyers’ Guide has served the industry for 60 years, and BioPhotonics magazine has connected research and applications of light-based technologies in the life sciences for 20 years.

This year, we are introducing our newest publication, Industrial Photonics, for all those engaged in bringing photonic technologies to industrial settings, affirming our support and enthusiasm for this amazing industry.

We’re kicking off our celebration during SPIE Photonics West and BiOS in early February, and we invite you to visit us at booth 8701 at BiOS and at booths 700 and 701 at Photonics West. Join us and share on video how you got your start in the photonics industry – you could even find yourself part of an upcoming Photonics Media video. You can also pick up a copy of Industrial Photonics and any of our other industry-leading publications and check out the newly redesigned Photonics.com.

Of course, we’ll also be celebrating the winners of the 2014 Prism Awards, to be announced during Photonics West. I hope to see you there.