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<img height='200' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/1584.jpg' > International Year of Light Scott 1584 (2015)</center>
 
Over the years, Vatican City has issued many stamps tied to various celebrations and initiatives sponsored by the United Nations. On February 19, 2015, the Vatican issued the stamp shown above to commemorate the United Nations observance of the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies, or simply the International Year of Light (or IYL 2015).
 
The stamp illustrates a detail from Michelangelo’s fresco in the Sistine Chapel known as The Creation of the Sun and the Moon, one of nine frescoes depicting scenes from the Book of Genesis. One excerpt from Genesis addresses the creation of light as it comes from God:
<blockquote>Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good. God then separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’, and the darkness he called ‘night’. Evening came, and morning followed. (Genesis 1:3-5)</blockquote>
The UN observance of the International Year of Light was aimed at highlighting the achievements of light science and its applications, and its importance to humankind. During the span of the observance of the IYL (from January 19, 2015, through February 6, 2016), over 13,000 sanctioned activities took place in 147 countries. 
 
Coincidentally, many important milestones in the history of the science of light celebrated anniversaries in 2015, including:
 
<li>Ibn Al-Haytham publishes studies on optics (1000th anniversary) 
<li>Fresnel presents theory of light as a wave (1815) 
<li>Maxwell’s presents electromagnetic theory of light (1865) 
<li>Einstein publishes his General Theory of Relativity (1915) 
<li>Penzias and Wilson describe Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (1965) 
<li>Kao develops fiber optical communications (1965)
 
The motivation for the IYL came from the understanding that light plays such a central role in human activities, both culturally and scientifically, and mankind has always attached great importance to light. Light continues to fascinate and inspire mankind, as it has since the dawn of creation. One can only speculate on what the future holds from our most basic source of energy—light.
 
REFERENCES:
 
<li>Wikipedia, <a href= 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Year_of_Light'>International Year of Light</a> 
<li>UFN, February 19, 2015, <a href= 'https://vaticanstamps.org/UFN/images/2015-2-04-1.jpg'>International Year of Light</a> 
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search

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