International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies

The United Nations declared 2015 as the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies. The yearlong celebrations are aimed at stimulating worldwide interest in light and related sciences and technologies. The year 2015 marks the 1000th anniversary since the appearance of the remarkable seven volume treatise on optics written by the great Arabic scientist Ibn al-Haytham. The book traces the history of optics from the ancient Greek to the modern. A detailed account of the medieval Arab contributions to optics is presented. The impact of the Medieval Arab sciences on the European renaissance is also covered briefly. Glimpses from the History of Medieval and Modern Optics are covered. Accelerator-based Light Sources are also described.