International Year of Light and light-based Technologies 2015

The United Nations proclaimed the “International Year of Light 2015”.

TUM contributes an interdisciplinary program to the “International Year of Light”. It starts with two highlight talks at the Deutsche Museum, presented by Prof. Alexander Holleitner and Prof. Franz Pfeiffer and continues throughout the year.

Photomontage of the sun and a photomultiplier light detector

The photomontage shows our arguably most important source of light, the sun, and a very sensitive device for the measurement of light: the Borexino detector. Borexino is an experiment that registers light emitted from neutrinos that are produced at the energy conversion in the sun.

What is the "International year of light"?

The general assembly of the UN proclaimed 2015 as the “International year of light and light-based technologies”.

The year of light is intended to recognize “the importance of light and light-based technologies in the lives of the citizens of the world and for the future development of global society on many levels, stressing that enhanced global awareness of and increased education in the science and technologies of light are vital for addressing challenges such as sustainable development, energy and community health, as well as for improving the quality of life in both developed and developing countries.”

Who organizes the "International year of light"?

UNESCO is the global organzier of the “year of light”. In Germany the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG) coordinates the activities. TUM contributes an interdisciplinary program throughout the year

Why 2015?

200, 150, 100 and 50 years ago, there were important scientific discoveries regarding light:

1815: Fresnel describes the wave nature of light.
1865: Maxwell’s equations form the electromagnetic foundation of optics.
1915: Einstein’s general theory of relativity connects light with the structure of spacetime.
1965: Penzias and Wilson discover the cosmic microwave background, an electromagnetic echo from the big bang.

Event program for the “Year of light”

We offer an interesting, interdisciplinary program for the Year of ligth. The schedule lists events in the area of Munich / Garching.

A flyer (in German) for download and printing:: folder-jahr-des-lichts-muc.pdf (PDF, 702 KB).

The events are aimed at the general public. Therefore most events are conducted in German, requiring some knowledge of the language. An Enlish program is available on the pages of UNESCO.

Date	Event	Organizer/Location
year-round	Guided tours of the Cosmology Exhibition at the Deutsches Museum Reservations: info@universe-cluster.de	Exzellenzcluster Universe, Deutsches Museum
From 01.03.2015	Demonstrations of the Planetarium	Deutsches Museum
Mon, 02.03.2015	Prof. Alexander Holleitner: Ein Farbstoff emittiert kein Licht: ein Weg zum Auslesekopf für Quantencomputer? (Talk in German)	TUM-Physik, Deutsches Museum
Wed, 18.03.2015	Prof. Franz Pfeiffer: Interferenz von Röntgenlicht: Phasenkontrast schärft den Röntgenblick für die medizinische Diagnostik, (Talk in German)	TUM-Physik, Deutsches Museum
Mon, 23.03.2015	Kunst und Wissenschaft: Stein – Glas – Licht	Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Hansastr. 27c
Thu, 26.03.2015	Farben und Frequenzen – Jahresveranstaltung 2015	Fraunhofer EMFT, Hansastr. 27d
07. – 12.04.2015	International Physics Olympiads, Last national round	MPI für Quantenoptik, Garching
24.04. – 26.04.2015	39. Edgar-Lüscher-Seminar “Laser- und Quantenphysik” (Teacher training)	TUM-Physik, Gymnasium Zwiesel
Mon, 04.05.2015	Das All im Wandel – Wandel im All	Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Hofgartenstr. 8
Mon, Tue, 04. – 05.05.2015	Vorträge/Shows für Schulklassen, aufblasbares Planetarium, Abendvortrag für Studierende	Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Generalverwaltung
Mon, 10.06.2015	Mikroskopie in die 4. Dimension – oder wie kommen wir Elektronen auf die Schliche	Max-Planck-Haus am Hofgarten, Hofgartenstr. 8
17.06. – 21.08.2015	Die Gesichter des Lichts (Exhibition),	Exzellenzcluster Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics / U-Bahn Garching
22. – 25.06.2015	Laser – World of Photonics (Trade fair),	Messe München
Sat, 27.06.2015	Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften (Long night of science)	Campus Garching
Wed, 01.07.2015	Prof. Dr. med. Dipl.-Ing. Herbert Plischke Licht ist mehr (PDF)	Stadtbücherei Garching, Bürgerplatz 11
Wed, 22.07.2015	Tag der Physik (Day of physics)	TUM Physik-Department
Wed, 12.08.2015	Ferienaktion “Solarsonnenblumen”	TUM Physik-Department
Wed, 09.12.2015, 15h	Prof. Dr. Rolf Heilmann Die Farben des Himmels: blau, schwarz, weiß, rot, grün	Hochschule München, Lothstr. 34

The program is still developing and new items will be added. Further details will be anounced on this page in due course.

Please contact Dr. Johannes Wiedersich, if you plan events or would like to participate.

Where can I get further inforation?

German page on the Internationales Jahr des Lichts
International home page of UNESCO: International year of light

Contact

Dr. Andreas Battenberg: Technische Universität München

Corporate Communications Center

Boltzmannstr. 17, Zi 301

85748 Garching

Tel.: 089 289 10510

E-Mail: battenberg@zv.tum.de
Dr. Johannes Wiedersich: Technische Universität München

Physik-Department

James-Franck-Str. 1

85748 Garching

Tel.: 089 289 14371

E-Mail: jowi@tum.de