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lambert

unit of measurement
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History

lambert, unit of luminance (brightness) in the centimetre-gram-second system of physical measurement. (See the International System of Units.) It is defined as the brightness of a perfectly diffusing surface that radiates or reflects one lumen per square centimetre. The unit was named for the 18th-century German physicist Johann Heinrich Lambert. It is used by astronomers as well as by physicists, engineers, and photographers.