Sustainable development: Al-Haytham’s ‘works on optics’ celebrated

Initiative aims to raise global awareness about light-based technologies.

ISLAMABAD: Highlighting contributions made by renowned scientists, Ibn Al-Haytham and Albert Einstein, scholars underscored the significance of celebrating the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL-2015) here on Monday. 

They were speaking at a two-day symposium to commemorate IYL-2015 and the thousandth anniversary of Al-Haytham’s optics theory, which began at the National Centre for Physics (NCP) at Quaid-i-Azam University.

The UN observance aims to recognise the importance of raising global awareness about how light-based technologies promote sustainable development and provide solutions to global challenges in energy, education, agriculture and health.



Dr Aslam Baig, national coordinator for the activity, highlighted the importance of the global initiative.

He informed the audience that IYL was a global initiative which would highlight the importance of light and optical technologies for future generations of the globe and for the development of society at large.

Baig added that the initiative aimed to celebrate important scientific works such as Einstein’s theory of general relativity and renowned scientist and mathematician Ibn Al-Haytham’s famous “Book of Optics”, written a thousand years ago.

He said in 2013, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 2015 as the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies.

NCP Director General Dr Hafeez Hoorani gave a detailed presentation about the importance of light in life.

“Light plays a vital role in our daily lives and is an imperative cross-cutting discipline of science in the 21st century,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2015.