Radiance

In radiometry, radiance is the radiant flux emitted, reflected, transmitted or received by a surface, per unit solid angle per unit projected area, and spectral radiance is the radiance of a surface per unit frequency or wavelength, depending on whether the spectrum is taken as a function of frequency or of wavelength. These are directional quantities. The SI unit of radiance is the watt per steradian per square metre (W·sr⁻¹·m⁻²), while that of spectral radiance in frequency is the watt per steradian per square metre per hertz (W·sr⁻¹·m⁻²·Hz⁻¹) and that of spectral radiance in wavelength is the watt per steradian per square metre, per metre (W·sr⁻¹·m⁻³)—commonly the watt per steradian per square metre per nanometre (W·sr⁻¹·m⁻²·nm⁻¹). The microflick is also used to measure spectral radiance in some fields. Radiance is used to characterize diffuse emission and reflection of electromagnetic radiation, or to quantify emission of neutrinos and other particles. Historically, radiance is called "intensity" and spectral radiance is called "specific intensity". Many fields still use this nomenclature. It is especially dominant in heat transfer, astrophysics and astronomy. "Intensity" has many other meanings in physics, with the most common being power per unit area.

Radiance (play)

Radiance is a play by Australian author and playwright Louis Nowra. The play focuses on three Aboriginal half-sisters, who have gone their separate ways in life, and are reunited when they arrive for their mother's funeral service. Radiance has been written both as a stageplay and a screenplay.

Characters

Mother

The mother's name is not given in the stageplay, in the screenplay she referred to by the priest as Nancy McKenna. She is already deceased at the start of the play, her daughters give their views of their common mother whilst reminiscing.

It is revealed that the mother was very naive and carefree, however, her promiscuous nature was what she was most known for. Her two daughters Mae and Cressy most likely do not have the same biological father, and when child services came for them (see Stolen Generation), she willingly handed them over. Her granddaughter Nona appeared to be her favourite 'child', and she was hidden when officials visited.

The house in which she lived was given to her by Harry Wells, a local sugar cane plantation owner, most likely, as Mae believes, to keep her quiet about his affair with her. However, the mother truly believed that he loved her. She lived there for the rest of her life, with Mae caring for her in old age and her descent into senility.

Carter Scholz

Carter Scholz (né Robert Carter Scholz, born 1953) is a speculative fiction author and composer of music. He has published several works of short fiction (collected in The Amount to Carry, 2003) and two novels (Palimpsests 1984, with Glenn Harcourt; Radiance: A Novel 2002). He has been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Award for Best Novelette. He also co-wrote The New Twilight Zone episode "A Small Talent for War" and contributed stories to Kafka Americana.

Scholz grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey and graduated from Tenafly High School in 1971. He also attended Rhode Island School of Design.

He is married and lives in California.

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