Mercury and Venus were bright in the evening sky during the first week of 2015. This International Year of Light 2015 (Light2015.org) has continued to offer spectacular astronomy events, including aurora displays and a solar eclipse in March; a supermoon lunar Eclipse in September; and Jupiter, Venus and Mars lined up for the December morning skies, and, for Christmas day, a full moon.
The year of light has not only celebrated the night sky, but also all the technology made possible by using light and photonics. Some examples were presented in connection with the opening ceremonies in Paris in January, as discussed in an earlier post.
As one of the Swedish National contact points for the year of light, I have tried to include all the light-related activities in the calendar,from small gatherings and workshops for teachers, to Optopubs for the photonics industry, advanced research seminars and symposia, light shows for children and students, inspirational lectures for teachers experiments in science centers, large events for the publics and much more. I also collected light-related playlists in a YouTube channel Ljus2015
My personal involvement has included a photonics breakfast and tea together with Sheila Galt at Chalmers and Petra Hardtke from Thorlabs, workshop during the teacher conferences, “NO-biennaler” i Stockholm and Falun, a presentation together with LJUSLAB in a Forum for Light during the large electric trade show ELFACK, and an invitation to a Light2015 event in Nykarleby in Finland on “Light – more than meets the eye”. The National resource centre for physics education has become a local associated partner for the Photonics Explorer kits, and will run workshops for teachers during 2016 on using these kits.
The International Year of Light draws to a close – but we look forward to continued work with light in education and wish you all the best for a
Happy Physics Year 2016
Research, Rabbits and Roller Coasters 