The International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies 2015 or International Year of Light 2015 (IYL 2015) was a United Nations observance that aimed to raise awareness of the achievements of light science and its applications, and its importance to humankind. Under the leadership of UNESCO, the IYL 2015 brought together hundreds of national and international partners to organize more than 13,000 activities in 147 countries. The audience reached by the IYL 2015 is estimated to be over 100 million. The first idea for an International Year of Light dates back to 2009 when John Dudley, IYL 2015 Steering Committee Chair, proposed the idea whilst representing the Quantum Electronics and Optics Division (QEOD) of the European Physical Society (EPS) at a meeting of the International Council of Quantum Electronics (ICQE) in Baltimore, USA. An item that was discussed at this meeting was how to follow up activities that were planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the laser (LaserFest) in 2010 with something even more ambitious. The photonics community felt that there was a real opportunity to reach out beyond the scientific sector to raise much broader awareness of the problem-solving potential of light-based science in so many areas of life, and to make a global effort to influence education and policy in both developed and developing countries. The proposal was endorsed by ICQE and thus began the adventure towards IYL 2015. International Years are part of the United Nations (UN) declared observances that promote awareness of issues relevant to its aims and international programmes. The first step to successfully achieve the proclamation of the International Year was to work through UNESCO to prepare and submit a resolution to the UN General Assembly. But before this, EPS had to construct the proposal in detail and build a consortium amongst the major optics and physics societies. During 2010 and 2011, the main motivations and goals for IYL 2015 were drafted, and it was decided that 2015 would be the target year based on several key scientific anniversaries. With the support of the EPS President Luisa Cifarelli, an important milestone occurred in September 2011 when the Italian Physical Society and EPS organized in Varenna, Italy, the Passion for Light launch meeting for IYL 2015, where representatives of UNESCO and the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (UNESCO-ICTP) were present, both to learn more about our plans and to show ... More information...
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