Robert Fosbury: Interactions Between Light & Life

Robert Fosbury is an emeritus astronomer at the European Southern Observatory and an honorary professor at the Institute of Ophthalmology at University College London. For 26 years, Bob worked at the European Space Agency as part of their collaboration with NASA on the Hubble Space Telescope. He joined this initiative in 1985, more than 5 years before launch. During the latter part of this period, Bob served on NASA's Ad Hoc Science Working Group and ESA's Study Science Team as they developed the instrument concepts for the James Webb Space Telescope, the next-generation space observatory. Since then, Bob has become an integral part within the Institute of Ophthalmology at UCL with his unique perspective on light and its interactions with the earth’s atmosphere. His interdisciplinary contributions to this team at UCL have lead to new hypotheses developing, particularly surrounding the beneficial effects of specific wavelengths of red and near-infrared light and the detrimental effects of the narrow spectrum blue light that is emitted from modern lighting fixtures and appliances. Bob and the team at UCL with Professor Glen Jeffrey are working hard to explore and share the damaging effects of blue spectrum light from artificial sources. Commonplace, most artificial lighting peaks at wavelengths that have devastating effects on the energy productions systems of the cell, the mitochondria, as well as having negative effects on circadian rhythms.