Declaring 2015 as the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies, the United Nations has kicked off a number of programs and initiatives across the world.
This global initiative has been launched with the idea of highlighting the importance of light and optical technologies in daily life.
“Light is used extensively in medicine, mostly for diagnosis. Blood tests involve analysis with light. Lifesaving colonoscopy uses optical instruments. Ever more sophisticated eye tests are moving beyond assessing your vision to assessing your brain. This is important with the afflictions that come with living longer. The fight against diseases relies on instruments, from the centuries old microscope to laser based cell sorters and genome readers,” said Eugene Arthurs, CEO of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. SPIE is one of the main stakeholders in the international initiative.
He added, “The internet we have today, and the mobile devices we use to access it exist only because of progress in fiber optics and photonics. But the system is under strain as ever better images and movies, clog the system. We need advances in photonics to improve the internet, and to cope with data storage and processing. Systems based on electronics are really at their limit. We can see paths forward using light, using photons.”
At the opening ceremony last month in Paris, secretary-general of the UN, Ban ki-Moon said, “On the most fundamental level through photosynthesis, light is necessary to the existence of life itself. Light science has revolutionized medicine, agriculture and energy, and optical technologies are part of the basic infrastructure of modern communication.
For these reasons and more, light sciences are a cross-cutting discipline in the 21st century. As we strive to end poverty and promote shared prosperity, light technologies can offer practical solutions to global challenges.”
