Reflections
Light – the medium of the Future

With light we can do anything – without light we can do nothing. Light is involved wherever there is progress. This is true of the evolution of life just as much as of human civilisation. Shadows and the changing position of the sun in the sky helped the Ancients survey the world; polished lenses enabled people to peer far out into space or to inspect the details inside a cell. The invention of electric, artificial light revolutionised human civilisation perhaps more than any other invention before it. And today? Light flashing along glass fibre cables is connecting up the global information systems into ever bigger networks. This book contains a series of reports about light in its wide variety of refractions and reflections. It tells of photonics, light as a great motivator of achievements, diamond polishers, producers of firework displays and artists who place light in the service of beauty.