The International Day of Light is celebrated on 16 May each year to mark the anniversary of the first successful operation of the laser in 1960 by physicist and engineer, Theodore Maiman. The day celebrates the role that light plays in science, culture and art, education, and sustainable development, and in fields as diverse as medicine, communications, and energy to help achieve the goals of UNESCO – ‘education, equality, and peace. The message of 2021 International Day of Light is “Trust Science”.

This year, Prakash Bharati (Consortium of IEEE Photonic Society) celebrated the International Day of Light and also contributed to Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, (75th anniversary of Indian Independence) in collaboration with 75 Universities and Colleges around India,  with remarkable inputs given by them. These institutions celebrated the IDL by involving students and faculty members in various technical and non-technical activities such as expert talks, poster presentations, extempore speeches, paper presentations and many more. For the first time, the many other student chapters of the IEEE Photonics Society also joined hands to support this gala event in India for IDL celebrations.

Dr. Manpreet Singh Manna, Chair, IPS Rjasthan Chapter and Chair, Prakash Bharati delivered the welcome speech; Dr. Inderpreet Kaur, Vice Chair, IPS Rajasthan Chapter and Secretary, Prakash Bharati, welcomed the Er. Hitesh, Fiber Optika Technologies for his session and cultivated the outcome from industry – academia collaboration.

Glimpse of the session  event and the participants

All 75 institutions participated in the final day event on 16th May 2022 at 6:30 PM (IST) and shared their experiences about events organized at their institutions with video clips. From these, 5 will be selected to receive an award from IEEE Photonics Society and Prakash Bharati in near future. During the event, Dr. Preeta Sharan, Vice Chair PB, welcomed Prof.(Dr.) Naresh Chand, IEEE International Chapter Relations Officer, New Jersey, Mentor, Prakash Bharati, and Prof (Dr.) T. Srinivas , Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Immediate Past Chair, Prakash Bharati. They were honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award due to their commendable contribution in the area of photonics and its allied applications. 

Dr. Roshan Makkar, a Senior Scientist at SAMEER, Mumbai, was the keynote speaker of the session delivering an expert talk on the development of prototype products for medical use at SAMEER. Dr. Bhavesh, Principal SRMGPC, Dr. Shilpa Kapse-Lokmanya Tilak Institute of Engg and Technology, Navi Mumbai, Dr. Sojan Lal- MBITS, Kothamangalam, Dr Sangeetha, Dr Birinderjit Singh, Prof. Ganshyam, shared their experiences while celebrating IDL 2022 in their respective institutions. The session ended with the vote of thanks from Dr.N.Venkateswaran, Professor, Dept. of ECE, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering(Autonomous), Kalavakkam, Tamil Nadu, India