Johns Hopkins Professor to Keynote Infrared 100 Symposium

The joint RPS/RAS symposium in London in October will be keynoted by respected astrophysicist Professor Paul Feldman. Paul will be talking about Robert Williams Wood's life and work and will no doubt also touch on his own current research at JHU which has recently been in space ultraviolet astronomy and spectroscopy. (Although we're concentrating on infrared, let's not forget that Wood was also a pioneer of UV photography.)

The October symposium will take place in and around the RAS's premises in Burlington House. This complex of historic buildings in Piccadilly, central London, is best known as the home of the Royal Academy. If you have an interest in any application of infrared - photographic and thermal - then these are dates for your diary. We're also delighted to acknowledge the financial support of FLIR Systems.

Infrared 100 logo available

2010 is almost upon us and it's time to start thinking about what events you can hold to celebrate infrared imaging.

I have produced versions of the Infrared 100 logo (as seen top-right) for web and print use. They are available for download and are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported licence. The only terms/restrictions are that ...

1. use is to promote the centenary of infrared imaging and that the logo will either link to http://www.infrared100.org or be accompanied by the string www.infrared100.org if a link is not appropriate ... this is the 'attribution'
2. the logo is not changed in any way other than in size but the aspect ratio of the logo must be maintained.

You don't need to sign anything to use the logos; download and use of the logos implies agreement to the licence terms.

Four versions are provided through the link, zipped together for convenience.

• EPS and PNG for use on a light background
• EPS and PNG for use on a dark background

You should choose which works for you.

Links:

• Infrared 100 logo set
• Licence terms

Don't forget, if you're doing something, let me know and we'll promote it on this blog as well.

Applications of thermal imaging

A couple of interesting thermal imaging stories recently on the BBC web site ...

• detection of disease in trees
• thermal dynamics of a toucan bill

I wasn't aware that there was sufficient thermal differentiation to achieve these kinds of results in a tree; it has interesting artistic possibilities of course. The toucan story just shows how infrared can tell us ever-more amazing things about nature.

What is Infrared 100?

October 2010 will be the centenary of a landmark publication in the Royal Photographic Society's Photographic Journal. In the October 1910 edition there is a paper by Professor Robert Williams Wood, originally presented as the 13th annual Traill-Taylor Memorial Lecture, called Photography by Invisible Rays. As far as I know, this marks the first publication of an infrared photograph.

Wood demonstrated uses of both infrared and ultraviolet imaging. His influence over the medium was such that he gave his name to one of the most striking attributes of infrared photographs, the glowing foliage. This is known as the Wood Effect.

Some of Wood’s photographs were included in the 1911 RPS exhibition and as a result were published in the London Illustrated News in June that year. He also presented a paper to the Royal Institution.

This centenary can be used as an opportunity to celebrate and promote a branch of photography that has numerous scientific and medical applications, produces beautiful images of the world, and (in theory) is easier than ever to do with the arrival of digital cameras.