International Day of Light (16 May) - Educational Offers

One specific contribution from Switzerland to the International Day of Light is the Stellarium Gornergrat, a remote controlled observatory for educational and amateur/citizen science purposes; on the right, an image of the galaxies M81/M82 taken with the 60 cm deep sky telescope of the Stellarium.

0. Background

The International Day of Light (IDL) is a global initiative, supported by UNESCO, that provides an annual focal point for the continued appreciation of light and the role it plays in science, culture and art, education, and sustainable development, and in fields as diverse as medicine, communications, and energy (UNESCO/IDL, https://www.lightday.org/about). The event is held on May 16 every year on occasion of the anniversary of the first successful operation of the laser in 1960 by the physicist and engineer Theodore Maiman. The laser is an excellent example of how a scientific discovery can yield revolutionary benefits to society in communications, healthcare and many other fields. A range of selected offers (such as hands-on experiments, out-of-school educational offers, historical aspects) is available on this SPS website. There is material in English, French and German (with short introductions mostly in the language of the offer), much of the material is available online.

1. Optics Related Demo and Hands-On Experiments, Observations and Applications

1.1 Physics of Everyday Phenomena and other Fascinating Applications

Several articles in the SPG Mitteilungen deal with highly interesting applications of light and optics, partially of high importance for society, from more technical (glass fibres, liquid crystal displays, LEDs, etc.) to biomedical aspects (non-visual light effects in humans), see section 3.1. The following projects are very interesting examples of "state-of-the-art" research in this area with a link to biophysics or geophysics:

Chameleon colour change - an effect of nanophysics
Laser Lightning Rod (LLR): This project is conducted by a consortium of several research institutions and supported by the HORIZON 2020 program of the EU. Below some resources:
- Overview flyer
- Project website
- Website of the GAP, Université de Genève
- Report on "RTS Radio Télevision Suisse"
- report on "euronews"
- A precursor, Teramobile:La foudre domestiquée - Un laser ultrapuissant pour dompter la foudre Téramobile: la foudre domestiquée

Furthermore some fun and home experiments as "appetizers" for optics:

Below you will find further examples and activities of this kind, e.g. with laser pointers or smartphones as experimental means.

1.2 Experiments with Lasers and Laserpointers

The following collections (most of them open access) provide a broad range of demo, hands-on and at-home laser experiments for teaching and learning.

Gareth T. Williams: Laser experiments for the secondary school classroom
Gabriel Ramos Ortiz, Jose-Luis Maldonado, Mayo Villagran-Muniz, Z. Ramirez-Maldonado: Forty simple experiments with an He-Ne laser for high school students
Samuel M. Goldwasser: 101+ Experiments More Than 101 Ways to Use a Laser
James O’Connell: Optics experiments using a laser pointer. [The Physics Teacher, 37(7), 445-446. (1999)]

Polarization optics with a smartphone: reflection of skylight by the smartphone screen.

Light intensity of a LED monitor as function of the observation angle: with (red) and without (blue) privacy screen (generalized Lambert law); measurement with a smartphone, see Klein et al. (2015).

1/r² law for the light intensity of a point source as measured with a smartphone, see Klein et al. (2014).

1.3 Optics Experiments with Smartphones

D. Bengtsson, L. Jonas, M. Los, M. Montangero and M. Szabo: How Deep is Your Blue? Coloured Chemistry with Smartphones. [in: iStage2: Smartphones in Science teaching. Science on Stage Germany, Berlin (2014)]
J. J. Birriel: Diffraction by "sheer coincidence". [The Physics Teacher, 56(9), 648-649. (2018)]
C.-M. Chiang and H.-Y. Cheng: Use smartphones to measure Brewster’s angle. [The Physics Teacher 57, 118–119 (2019).]
J. Freeland, V. R. Krishnamurthi, and Y. Wang: Learning the lens equation using water and smartphones/tablets. [The Physics Teacher 58, 360–361 (2020).]
H. Ghalila, A. Ammar, Y. Majdi, S. Lahmar, Z. Dhaouadi, M. Zghal, ... and V. Lakshminarayanan: Hands-on experimental and computer laboratory in optics: the Young double slit experiment. [In: Optics Education and Outreach V (Vol. 10741, International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2018).
A. Girot, N. A. Goy, A. Vilquin, U. Delabre: Studying ray optics with a smartphone. [The Physics Teacher, 58(2), 133-135 (2020).]
T. Hergemöller, D. Laumann: Smartphone magnification attachment: Microscope or magnifying glass. [The Physics Teacher, 55(6), 361-364 (2017)].
P. Klein, M. Hirth, S. Gröber, J. Kuhn, A. Müller: Classical experiments revisited: smartphones and tablet PCs as experimental tools in acoustics and optics. [Physics Education, 49(4), 412–418 (2014).] (second link)
P. Klein, J. Kuhn, A. Müller: Blickschutzfolie. [Naturwissenschaften im Unterricht Physik 26(145), 36–38 (2015).]
K. Malisorn et al.: Demonstration of light absorption and light scattering using smartphones. [Phys. Educ., 55(1), 1–8 (2020).]
R. Mathevet, E. Jammes, Ch. Fabre, N. Lamrani, S. Martin, et al.: Une approche quantitative de la loi de Beer-Lambert avec un smartphone. Premiere partie Seconde partie. [Bulletin de l'Union des Physiciens, no. 1017, p1079-1089 ; no. 1019, 1357-1366 (2019).]
S. Odenwald: Smartphone Sensors for Citizen Science Applications: Light and Sound. [Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 5(1): 13, pp. 1–16. (2020).]
T. Rosi, P. Onorato: Video analysis-based experiments regarding Malus’ law. [Physics Education, 55(4), 045011 (2020).]
M. Rossi, L. M. Gratton, S. Oss: Bringing the digital camera to the physics lab. [The Physics Teacher, 51(3), 141-143 (2013).]
J. A. Sans, J. Gea-Pinal, M. H. Gimenez, A. R. Esteve, J. Solbes, J. A. Monsoriu: Determining the efficiency of optical sources using a smartphone’s ambient light sensor. [European Journal of Physics, 38(2), 025301 (2016).]
I. Salinas, M. H. Gimenez, J. A. Monsoriu, J. C. Castro-Palacio: Characterization of linear light sources with the smartphone’s ambient light sensor. [The Physics Teacher, 56, 562–563 (2018).]
L. J. Thoms, G. Colicchia, R. Girwidz: Color reproduction with a smartphone. [The Physics Teacher, 51(7), 440–441 (2013).]

Looking behind the curtain: Infrared images and selective absorption from man to milky way.
Top: Behind a plastic "curtain": person in visual range invisible (left), in infrared range visible (right).
Bottom: Behind the dust "curtain" (interstellar dust): galactic centre in visual range invisible (left), in infrared range visible (right).
See "Understanding heat and temperature - Thermography learning activities".

1.4 Resources by MUSE - More Understanding by Simple Experiments. An initiative of the European Physical Society

MUSE is a initiative of the European Physical Society providing deepened insight into physical key phenomena by a unique collection of experimental learning activities with simple means, feasible at schools, and sometimes even at home.

Below, MUSE activities and articles related to optics are highlighted.

1.4.1 MUSE – International Year of Light 2015

More understanding by Simple Experiments (MUSE): Light MUSE Flyer
A Collection from the International Year of Light 2015 by the European Physical Society, Mulhouse; Eds.: Zdenka Koupilova, Andreas Müller, Gorazd Planinšič, and Laurence Viennot.
Squash Ball Heating
Experiments with a solar cell
Understanding heat and temperature - Thermography learning activities
Every objects in the visible and IR guide
Every objects in the visible and IR handout
Smartphone and Tablet PC in acoustics and optics

1.4.2 MUSE – Papers

1.4.3 MUSE – Workshops

ICPE-EPEC: ESERA 2013 – Selective absorption
WCPE-GIREP 2012 – Colour phenomena activities
GIREP-EPEC 2011: Light & shadows – short paper sheet 1 sheet 2

1.5 Stellarium Gornergrat – A Remote Controlled Astronomy Observatory for Pupils, Teachers, and Citizen Scientists

Stéphane Gschwind: Stellarium @ International Day of Light 2021 (a short description in French)
Sylvia Ekström, Jonas Frey, Stéphane Gschwind, Sascha Hohmann, Andreas Müller, Timm-Emanuel Riesen, Simon Ruffieux, Peter Schlatter: Stellarium Gornergrat – A Swiss Robotic Observatory for Education and Citizen Science (a more detailed article in English)

A Mobillab experiment on colors and spectra.

2. Science Outreach Labs and Facilities with Optics Related Experiments in Switzerland

2.1 MobiLLab, St. Gallen

The MobiLLab is a mobile high-tech lab with twelve workspaces, which can be booked by schools for one-day visits on the school campus. Its goal is to promote the interest of the youth in natural sciences and technics. Using modern instruments and methods they can examine problems found in every-day life as well as practical applications.
Many of the high-tech devices use optical measuring methods. A selection of videos is listed below:

Links to all mobiLLab-videos

2.2 Other Offers

The website of the "International Day of Light" has a section"Science Centres and Museums".
Out-of-School learning places for physics/science, among others with offers related to light and optics
Stellarium Gornergrat ⇒ see 1.5

Build-up of double slit diffraction pattern from single photon events. From "Wave-particle duality of light for the classroom".

3. Optics related Articles in the SPG Mitteilungen

Related to light and optics, the SPG Mitteilungen provide a wealth of contributions about highly interesting applications (including special microscopes, telescopes, lighting, etc), fundamental questions (including our scientific "world view", e. g. in astronomy), or historical aspects.
(Note that the grouping of the following contributions under a given subtitle is not always unique).