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SPIE changes name...well, not exactly |
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Jun 07, 2007 at 12:34 PM |
At least once during every SPIE event, someone asks out loud, "what does SPIE stand for?" And anyone within earshot of the query usually answers, "gee, I don't know exactly." Random efforts to pair the letters in the acronym with words would follow, with the "S" tagged with "Society" and the other letters signifying anyone's guess (although the "P" often has been linked with "Photonics" and the "E" with "Engineers" or "Engineering," despite the protests of any scientists who might be present).
Sure, the organization's role was pretty clear to those attending its conferences and expos, and the subtitle "The International Society for Optical Engineering" was somewhat helpful, but it obviously didn't explain the precise definitions of the acronym's letters.
In a makeover of sorts, SPIE has announced it is "retiring" that "doing business as" subtitle and has a newly designed logo. The group also says that SPIE is no longer an acronym, but its right and proper name. But that is not exactly true, since the legal name (and answer to the acronym-trivia contest question) is "the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers." OK, I may be splitting photons here, so thank goodness the organization has a new, succinct "statement of purpose" to bring things into sharper focus: "SPIE is an international society advancing an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light."
So what does SPIE stand for again?
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