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Showing posts from November, 2014

Century of the Photon: 9 predictions for 2065

Photo by Dale Johnson Looking into the proverbial crystal ball is a risky endeavor. " Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. X rays will prove to be a hoax. " William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, president of the British Royal Society 1890-1895. " I think there is a world market for maybe five computers. " Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM 1914-1956. But we humans seem to find the urge to do so to be irresistible on certain occasions, particularly anniversaries. At the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste recently, optics and photonics experts offered a few guesses as to what may happen over the next 50 years. What new capabilities will technology offer us two-thirds of the way into the Century of the Photon? Fast-forward to 2065, when … Solar energy provides 50% of the world’s still increasing energy demand. A second laser fusion power station h