Energy associated with electromagnetic radiation

Editor's note: In monthly installments, Optics News is pleased to present a series of lecture demonstrations on radiation exchange, by J.H. Taylor of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. Key ideas of radiation exchange will be presented through April, followed by installments showing some applications of radiation exchange. These articles complement Taylor's article, "Radiation Exchange," in the Feb. 15 issue of Applied Optics. The author, a former member of OSA's education council, is a professor of physics at Rhodes, which was formerly Southwestern at Memphis.

by J.H. Taylor

International standards

Subcommittee 8, Ophthalmic Optics, within ISO/TC172, Optical and Optical Instruments, is the subcommittee representing the largest commercial financial interests in the optical standards field. On an international basis, the French standards writing organization, AFNOR, is the secretariat for SC8. In the U.S., Eugene A. Keeney of the Optical Manufacturers Association (OMA) is the administrator for the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for SC8.

by Robert E. Parks

The calamity of the Great Melbourne Telescope

Sir William Herschel and his sister, Caroline, had swept the skies over England as members of the court of George III. They had made amazing discoveries: a new planet in our solar system, the movement of the solar system with respect to the fixed stars, and hundreds of new nebulae and star clusters.

by W. Lewis Hyde