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International Day of Light 2023 - event planning starts now

The International Day of Light, organised by UNESCO, will take place on 16 May 2023. All individuals and institutions are invited to organise an event and register it in the global events calendar.

International Day of Light – 16 May
Image: UNESCO

There are still a little more than three months to go until the International Day of Light (IDL) on 16 May 2023, but UNESCO is already encouraging all interested individuals, groups and institutions to plan relevant events and register them in its event calendar. See link on the right.

On the website of the event (also link on the right) you can find a lot of information about the organisation of the event and visitors review past activities. For example, when the city of Leiden turned out all the lights in 2022 to allow a better view of the starry sky. Or when Martin Aufmuth started the OneDollarGlasses project in 2012 to make low-cost visual aids available to everyone.

The International Day of Light takes place on 16 May because it was on this day in 1960 that a laser was used for the first time, by Theodore Maimann at Bell Labs in the USA. The International Day of Light aims to promote the importance of science and the applications of light, address challenges in sustainable development, health and education, and explain the importance of science education.

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