International Year of Light News
iSPEX-EU: A European-wide Citizen Science Campaign for the Measurement of Aerosols with Smartphones
As part of the LIGHT2015 project, coordinated by the European Physical Society, Leiden Observatory is organising a pilot European-wide Citizen Science campaign for the measurement of aerosols with iSPEX, a low-cost add-on and corresponding app for the iPhone. The campaign will run in over 10 major cities across Europe from 1-28 September 2015. With an anticipated 15,000 participants, this campaign therefore is a first step towards a worldwide network of citizen scientists who can provide air quality observations.
More information here.
SciFest attracts 12,000 visitors in Finland to celebrate the Power of Light
The 9th SciFest Science Festival was held in Joensuu, Finland, on 23-25 April 2015, attracting 12,000 visitors this year. The SciFest is a festival where visitors can do and play with science, hands-on activities rather than just boring presentations. And the concept seems to work. There were about 100 different workshops in the event from photonics and robotics to theatre where the visitors where able to participate. Of course, light was very visible in SciFest this year, and the Institute of Photonics at the University of Eastern Finland [UEF] was one of the organizers that helped the main organizer Joensuun Science Society. The theme this year was “Power of Light” to celebrate the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies 2015 [IYL 2015].
Read more about it here.
Galileoscope Launches International Year of Light Programmes
The Galileoscope programme for IYL 2015 is now in full swing, with new inventory available for delivery worldwide and thousands of K-12 teachers and students in the United States poised to receive free telescope kits thanks to a generous donation to support science education.
Created for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 [IYA 2009], the Galileoscope solved a long-standing problem: the lack of a high-quality, low-cost telescope kit suitable for both optics education and celestial observation. Through an effort managed entirely by volunteers, more than 225,000 Galileoscope kits have been distributed in more than 100 countries for use in science teaching and public outreach. The Galileoscope has been named part of the IYL 2015 Cosmic Light programme, coordinated by the International Astronomical Union, and special IYL 2015-branded kits are now available for purchase and for donation through the Telescopes4Teachers [T4T] programme.
Read more about it here.
Report about your IYL 2015 events!
The IYL 2015 is a truly international initiative with events taking place all around the world to fulfil the objectives of the United Nations resolution that proclaimed the Year.
The IYL 2015 Secretariat is now beginning to compile a Report on all the activities that have taken place as part of IYL 2015, and in 2016, a Final Report will be formally submitted to UNESCO and the United Nations.
We are now asking all event organisers to report on what you have done so that your event can be included in the report. To simplify things for you, we have prepared a simple web form where you can fill in the details and upload some images and other details. We will compile each event submitted into a one-page summary for the Final Report.
It is essential that as many events from around the world are included in this Final Report, as this will demonstrate the international impact of the Year and will allow us to look at follow up areas for the future.
Please go to the Reporting web form here and let us know what you have done!
Find the latest updates about the International Year of Light on www.light2015.org and on the IYL 2015 social media channels: Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
