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100 Significant Papers

The 100 articles reproduced here have been chosen on the basis of their subsequent importance to lighting. Articles were considered from the Society’s technical publications dating from February 1906 to January 2004. A searchable version of the complete index of Society publications, some 950 pages, was produced. With its aid, papers were found, categorized, and considered by an interdisciplinary group of reviewers with expertise covering the following areas:

 

General | Application | Calculations | Color | Controls and Economics | Daylighting | Glare | Human Factors | Light Sources | Luminaires and Optics | Measurements and Photometry | Non-Visual Effects | Roadway Lighting | Vision

General

This category defined articles of general interest and broad topic. Two papers were placed in this category, both from the earliest years of the Society.

Application

Examples of lighting design and engineering have been a prominent part of the Society’s publication. Nine papers were selected from this category, published between 1907 and 1974, covering specific projects as well as general lighting applications issues such as equipment maintenance and psychological design factors.

Calculations

The history of this application engineering aspect of lighting is described in the ten papers selected from this category. They were published between 1907 and 1996, covering the earliest graphical techniques up to the application of computer programs.

Color

Six papers published between 1928 and 1969 were selected from this category and cover the early work on chromaticity, color rendering and flattery index, and psychological aspects of color.

Controls and Economics

The five articles from this category were published between 1936 and 1976. They cover the control systems—switching and dimming—that were developed for each of the modern light sources as they became commercially available and the need to controlthem arose.

Daylighting

The seven articles in this category cover the period from 1914 to 1993 and describe daylight availability measurements, development of daylight calculation methods, and the analysis of the energy saving potential of daylighting.

Glare

These seven articles trace the development from 1925 to 1966 of the Visual Comfort Probability System, and some of its precursors, and one of its simplifications.

Human Factors

These four articles were published between 1968 and 1990 and cover some of the early work in the application of psychophysics preference and performance of occupants under different lighting systems.

Light Sources

The 14 papers in this category cover the long span of 1914 to 1997. Incandescent, tungsten-halogen, fluorescent, HID, and LED sources are described. In some cases, the articles announce and describe ground-breaking developments.

Luminaires and Optics

Between 1907 and 1977 four important articles were published that described advances in light control and luminaire design, driven by the desire to reduce discomfort glare or improve visual task contrast and performance.

Measurements and Photometry

These 13 articles were published between 1910 and 1990 and describe the development of the v-lambda function, the advent of physical photometry with photovoltaic cells, and advances in photometry for large sources.

Non-Visual Effects

These two articles appeared in 1968 and 1971 and deal with biological effects of light.

Roadway Lighting

Light distribution and roadway visibility are treated in these six articles that appeared between 1955 and 1975.

Vision

The 14 articles in this category describe various important effects and applications of vision research on lighting practice between 1910 and 1999.