Society of Light and Lighting
SLL Centenary Year
The Society of Light and Lighting celebrates its Centenary this year.
This page is dedicated to its history and the events planned in commemoration.
Centenary Launch Party Hall of Fame - ARC 09, Earls Court
Centenary of the Illuminating Engineering Society in 2009
| The Illuminating Engineering Society was founded in 1909 by a small enthusiastic group consisting of lighting engineers, electrical and gas engineers and representatives of other professions. The credit for the formation of the Society must be given to Leon Gaster, a consulting engineer of abounding energy. He arranged, in February 1909, an informal meeting of those interested in the formation of a society at which he said: |  |
| "In advocating the formation of such a Society we have no desire to do more than provide a common platform where all those interested in illumination may be able to express their views in a free and informal manner, and membership of such a Society cannot, at the present time, be regarded as any claim to professional distinction. We naturally hope that in time to come when the subject of illumination has been thrashed out in detail to a far greater extent than at present, ‘expert illuminating engineers' will have a professional existence and will, even though few in number, be entitled to claim the distinction that the name implies."
The inaugural meeting took place on 18 November 1909, by which time the membership was 157. The Chair was taken by Professor Silvanus P Thompson, the first President. Leon Gaster was appointed Hon. Secretary with J S Dow as his assistant. |
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Leon Gaster, the youngest son of Chevalier, A E Gaster was born in Bucharest, Romania. After studying at Zurich Polytechnic, from 1891-95, he came to Britain, becoming naturalised in 1902. From 1900, he practised as a consulting engineer. He received the Silver Medal of the Royal Society of Arts in 1906. He founded the magazine "The Illuminating Engineer" in 1908 and the IES in 1909. He remained Hon. Secretary until his death in 1928. The IES amalgamated with what is now CIBSE in 1978. The Society of Light and Lighting was formed in 1999. |
Young Lighter of the Year Awards
The Society of Light and Lighting's annual Young Lighter of the Year competition was held at Earls Court at ARC 09 on the 4th February 2009. As one of the highlights of the Society's calendar, this year's competition was particularly significant, being held in the Centenary year of the Society. Accordingly, it was a very well attended event with an audience of approximately 80.
The competition provides a unique platform for young lighters, whether Society members or not, to address a lighting subject dear to their hearts, to develop their presentation skills, and win the considerable professional kudos of being named ‘Young Lighter of the Year'.
Once again the competition received tremendous interest, with a record number of entrants. SLL President Elect Stephen Lisk, commented that the volume of entries reflected the passion and enthusiasm that young people have in the lighting profession. As a result of this, he announced that the 2010 competition will have two Regional Semi finals, providing Young Lighters even more opportunity to showcase their talent. To support this new format, the schedule has been altered slightly, and the deadline for entries, accompanied by a 300-word synopsis, is May 31st 2009. The Regional Semi-finals will be held in November in Birmingham and London with the Young Lighter Final being held, again at ARC in February 2010.
The quality of the papers was extremely high, and the judges found it extremely difficult to shortlist just five finalists:
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Aniket Gore from Maurice Brill opened the evening with his paper on "The Lantern Effect", discussing how a building at night with its lights on resembles a glowing coach lantern. His conclusion was that most modern buildings are heavily glazed and hence spill light to the outside was inevitable unless you took specific measures to avoid it. |
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Light Bureau's Klara Dunkel's paper on mood lighting examined how dramatically changing lighting effects which influencing mood and emotion in theatrical lighting applications, can be applied to architectural lighting. |
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Patrick Crowley, a student at the Dublin Institute of Technology presented his study of photosynthesis under artificial lighting. Patrick was winner of the Irish Young Lighters competition in 2008 and his paper examined photosynthesis and how to promote it artificially. The ideal spectrum for growth is just about the exact opposite of the V-lambda eye-response curve and he demonstrated the results of his own experiments with different light sources at promoting plant growth. |
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Anna Sbokou, from NDY Light presented a paper on sculpture lighting in museums from the visitor's perspective, a study comparing visitors' enjoyment of variety of sculptures in museums, with different methods of both daylighting and artificial lighting techniques. |
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Finally, Natalie Bell from Kevan Shaw presented research on how the lighting of a public space, like a park, gave an impression of whether it was safe. This was compared with crime figures to see if the impression was correct. A large part of the research was questioning members of the public as they crossed a park in Leith, Edinburgh both by day and night. Natalie also researched one of the best recent regeneration projects involving lighting, that of Liverpool One by BDP. |
| Each of the five finalists received a cheque for £300 from the SLL, a certificate and a copy of the new SLL Lighting Handbook. Congratulations are due to all of them. |
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The ILE award for the best written paper was presented to Aniket Gore by Chris Hardy, who commented on the extremely high standard of papers and congratulated all the finalists for their hard work. |
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The Worshipful Company of Lightmongers award for the best presented paper was given to Natalie Bell by David Rowden, Master Lightmonger, who made mention of how daunting presenting to a large audience could be, and commended all the finalists for their efforts. |
Centenary Lighting Events
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February |
Centenary Party Photographs |
Held on the first evening of ARC'09 at Earls Court, following on from the Young Lighters of the Year Final, to kick off the Centenary year in style. |
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February |
Centenary Masterclass |
The SLL Masterclass will celebrate the Centenary at the Science Museum in Birmingham |
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March |
Centenary Masterclass |
The SLL Masterclass will celebrate the Centenary at Clontarf Castle in Dublin |
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March |
Ready Steady Light |
An historical team formed from older members who will show how things were done with obsolete equipment and dressed to suit the occasion. |
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April |
Centenary Masterclass |
The SLL Masterclass will celebrate the Centenary at the beautiful York Racecourse |
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May |
Centenary Masterclass |
The SLL Masterclass will celebrate the Centenary on board the HMS Belfast |
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May |
AGM |
Launch of the Centenary book written by David Loe covering the history of the ILE and SLL through the development of the lighting profession. (Personal book signing with proceeds going to charity) |
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June |
LR&T Centenary Symposium |
A symposium based on a special edition of LR&T covering energy efficiency from the production of power, conversion to light and utilisation of light. |
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September |
SLL Centenary & CIBSE |
A celebration of light held at the centre of scientific knowledge - The Royal Institution, with guest speakers talking about the history and design of light. |
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November |
Centenary Celebration Dinner |
An anniversary dinner to be held at the Criterion in homage to the first dinner of the Illuminating Engineering Society held there 100 years ago. |
To Download the Centenary Events Calendar, Click here
