OVERVIEW
International Day of Light is celebrated to acknowledge the contribution of light and light-based technologies to basically every aspect of life – some examples include art, culture, education, communication, science and medicine.
It’s marked annually on May 16th to commemorate the anniversary of the first ever successful laser operation in 1960, done by Theodore Maiman, a physicist and engineer and it’s accompanied around the world by events and forum organized by people both inside and outside the scientific community.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF LIGHT - HISTORY TIMELINE
FIVE FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT LIGHT
The Speed of Light – Light travels approximately at 299’792’458 meters per second and slows when is obstructed by the layers of the atmosphere.
Humans do Glow – We are bioluminescent! Our bodies produce and emit light through a natural chemical process, just like some animals or fungi do, but the light we emit is very faint due to metabolic reactions, so it’s too weak to be detected by our eyes.
Let there be Light – It took nearly half a million year after the Big Bang for light to reach the Earth.
Light is a Wave – Light behaves like a wave of energy travelling through space and, due to that, has the same characteristics as any other wave of energy: amplitude, wavelength, frequency and wave speed.
From the Sun to the Earth – It takes eight minutes and seventeen seconds for light to reach the Earth from the Sun’s surface.
WHY IS LIGHT IMPORTANT?
Light is important for many notorious reasons, for example:
- It’s one of the main reasons why life is flourishing on earth, because it provides energy that living organisms use to perform all activities;
- It’s crucial in the production of oxygen and vitamin D, necessary by all living organisms;
- It’s a source of sustainable energy that humans can use to prevent climate change catastrophe, because it’s clean, renewable and has no negative impact on the environment;
- Light-based technologies are employed in the healthcare system for analysis, imaging, sterilization, genomes sequencing, destroying cancerous cells and more. These have made it easier to detect and cure diseases, manage global pandemics and improve healthcare for all.
CONCLUSIONS
International Day of Light is a special occasion celebrated to raise awareness of the importance of light and light-based technologies to every aspect of human life and use it to pursue peace and sustainable environments.
Source: nationaltoday.com
