The United Nations is Celebrating the International Year of Light in 2015

In December of 2013, the UN declared 2015 as the International Year of Light. Several anniversaries of relevant publications fall in 2015:  from the first solar power system to Fresnel’s wave theory (1815) to Maxwell’s theory of the electromagnetic field (1865) to Albert Einstein’s general relativity theory (1915) to the latest discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Penzias and Wilson, which provided evidence in 1965 in favor of the big bang theory.

Inspiring young people and the public is the main focus of the Year of Light.The point is not only to celebrate the anniversaries of these publications but rather to focus attention on new technologies and show several examples of a successful and fast technology transfer from research to application, according to Edward G. Krubasik, president of the German Physical Society in his opening remarks.

The celebratory opening was held in Munich on February 27, 2015, in conjunction with the reopening of the Zeiss Planetarium in the Deutsches Museum (German Museum), which is open to the public.

In addition, a series of events coordinated by the German Physical Society (DPG) will accompany the Year of Light.