The ceremony, held at the Poliorama Theatre of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona, was one of the starting points for a series of events taking place all over Spain during this year to highlight the impact of light and light-based technologies in areas such as energy, education, health or communications.
Prof. Maria Josefa Yzuel, president of the Spanish Committee for the celebration of the International Year of Light, announced the activities program to be developed in Spain in 2015.
Three renowned lecturers offered their different viewpoints on the role and impact of light in our lives: Dr. Ignacio Cirac, director of the Theory division of the Max-Planck Institut für Quantenoptik (Germany), Dr. Caterina Biscari, director of the ALBA Synchrotron (Spain) and Dr. Jeroni Nadal, coordinator of the Retina department and the macula unit at the Clínica Barraquer (Spain).
Eugene Arthurs, CEO of SPIE, also participated in the opening ceremony and emphasized that this year is also an opportunity to bring light to developing countries.
The International Year of Light (IYL2015) is a world-wide initiative endorsed by UNESCO with the aim of communicating to society as a whole the importance of light and light-based technologies in today's world, in such important areas as energy, health, communication, education and agriculture.
© R. Josa
