International Year of Light

Quale per li seren tranquilli e puri 
discorre ad ora ad or subito foco, 
movendo li occhi che stavan sicuri,
e pare stella che tramuti loco, 
se non che da la parte ond'e' s'accende 
nulla sen perde, ed esso dura poco... 

Dante, Canto XV, Paradiso

On 20 December 2013, the UN General Assembly 68th Session proclaimed 2015 as the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015).

In proclaiming an International Year focusing on the topic of light science and its applications, the UN has recognized the importance of raising global awareness about how light-based technologies promote sustainable development and provide solutions to global challenges in energy, education, agriculture and health. Light plays a vital role in our daily lives and is an imperative cross-cutting discipline of science in the 21st century. It has revolutionized medicine, opened up international communication via the Internet, and continues to be central to linking cultural, economic and political aspects of the global society.

Events in Italy.

Geology and Light:

Thin section of a mudstone with an axially sectioned specimen of Globotruncanita conica (from Sartorio & Venturini, 1988 – Southern Tethys Biofacies).