The International Year of Light Open Day

Professor Boon Ooi opening the KAUST International Year of Light (IYL) Open Day

The International Year of Light (IYL) Open Day event took place at KAUST on December 3, 2015. The event was designed to celebrate light’s impact on human welfare as well as the importance of light as one of the most challenging fields of research in contemporary science.

The Open Day Exhibition showcased the latest technological developments in light research, with special emphasis on photonics and LED-based technologies and the innovative applications that they will bring to the energy and communication sectors in the future.
 
The exhibit experiments and the striking materials were provided by CEMSE and PSE researchers under the direct supervision of Prof. Boon Ooi who curated the conceptual design as well as the realization of the scientific route the alternated posters, videos, and experimental stations.
 
The KAUST IYL Open Day is one of the hundred events organized worldwide to celebrate the 2015 as the UNESCO Year dedicated to light and was designed to promote a deeper understanding of the latest achievements in light research, taking by hand the public into a journey across the history of light, from the first studies of optics, 1,000 years ago, to the latest discoveries in optical communications, medicine, agriculture and the energy sector.
 
By Francesca Serra