1. Twitter and Optical Engineering
There is a lot of content on recent technology, such as protective uv absorbing materials, breast cancer laser treatments, and improved camera tech in space. There are also a bunch of tweets about optical engineering outreach to both elementary and high school students, internships, and invites to enroll in optical engineering programs. Lastly, are the twitter accounts of prominent professionals in the field, following their travels to conferences or into their research.
2. Optical Engineering is cool as f**k!
I've always been interested in technology that is utilized in both beautiful and pragmatic applications. Light, especially lends itself to such an application. As light is one of the most mysterious phenomena to scientists, it has so many applications that previously we've only ever seen in science fiction.
m_hweldon. "Hologram" 11/18/13 via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic.
One such advancement is hologram technology. We've seen such technology used extensively by fictional characters like the technological genius Tony Stark. However, when scientists have tried to create such technology, the holograms burned human skin. Now, scientists are able to create holograms that are not only harmless to humans, but are able to interact with human touch. On top of the 3D holograms, technology is used to create pressure differences in the air which gives the illusion of touching something with mass! This is extremely fascinating to me because it has such a wide variety of applications. Scientists have suggested using this technology in hospitals to make germ-less switches or to demonstrate medical procedures in 3D. Artists and video game makers have also used holographic technology in their work.
Roberts, Judy. "Light Pollution; Central Maine". 3/12/11 via Flickr. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic.
Optical engineers are also trying to reduce the light pollution that streams from every major city. Extreme light pollution has been linked to causing illnesses and disturbing ecosystems from their natural cycle. City lights also account for almost 20% of global electricity consumption. Optical engineers have been developing light sources such as bio-luminescent algae, phosphorescent trees, and glow in the dark concrete! What's fascinating is that artists are responsible for the world's first glow-in-the-dark bike path in the Netherlands. The bike path was inspired by Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night. I truly love how amazing artists are also engineers and engineers are also artists. I feel that engineering has a reputation for being boring and inartistic which is so very far from what I feel.
3. Overall, what impression do you get of optical engineering based on what you saw happening on Twitter?
The impressions I got of optics from twitter is that it is an extremely large field with an incredible amount of beauty. I loved how optics were portrayed in a very positive light(pun intended) in order to help people and explore strange new worlds. There was not a single mention of optical weapons, though there were mentions of using drones covered in optics for military espionage. Overall, exploring twitter was a surprisingly illuminating experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
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