Lighting technology is the technique that studies the different forms of (artificial) light production, as well as its control and application for specific purposes.

Technically, light is a form of energy that is part of the electromagnetic spectrum visible to the human eye. The spectrum includes cosmic waves, microwaves, gamma rays, radar, radio waves, ultraviolet and X-rays. The human eye is sensitive to a small range of the spectrum, from violet (400 nanometers) to red (750 nanometers) in wavelengths.

"Photometric curves are graphs that mark the spatial distribution of light referred to in a Cartesian plane whose variables are distance and luminous intensity. It is also called luminous distribution."[1]​.

We would show the distribution of the luminous intensities emitted by a standard type lamp in a general way, for a luminous flux of 1000 lumens. The volume determined by the vectors that represent the luminous intensities in all directions turns out to be symmetrical with respect to the Y-Y' axis; It is like a figure of revolution generated by the photometric curve that rotates around the Y-Y' axis.

Inverse square law. It has been proven that the illuminances produced by light sources decrease inversely with the square of the distance from the plane to be illuminated to the source. This law is fulfilled when it is a point source with surfaces perpendicular to the direction of the luminous flux and when the distance from the luminaire is five times greater than the dimension of the luminaire.

Law of cosine When the surface is not perpendicular to the direction of the light rays, the equation of the illumination level must be multiplied by the cosine of the angle ð that they form with the normal to the surface with the direction of the light rays.

Since time immemorial, man has always been concerned about his homes to provide adequate facilities to address the lack of natural light. The first characteristic is, of course, fire, which produces heat and light, produced by burning wood, coal and others. Ancient lamps were made of ceramic or metal, had a handle and a wick at the other end and a little oil used as fuel.

With the arrival of oil, gas began to be used in lighting. In Brazil, in 1851, Irineu Evangelista de Souza, the Baron of Mauá, began lighting the famous gas street through a lantern. The first to use electric lamps are arc lamps.

At the end of the century by Thomas Alva Edison, the first incandescent electric lamps, which in practice are the most to produce light, began to be used on a large scale.