The stilb is the CGS unit of luminance

Luminance

Luminance is a photometric measure of the luminous intensity per unit area of light travelling in a given direction. It describes the amount of light that passes through or is emitted from a particular area, and falls within a given solid angle. The SI unit for luminance is candela per square...

 for objects that are not self-luminous. It is equal to one candela

Candela

The candela is the SI base unit of luminous intensity; that is, power emitted by a light source in a particular direction, weighted by the luminosity function . A common candle emits light with a luminous intensity of roughly one candela...

 per square centimeter or 10⁴ nits

Nit (unit)

The candela per square metre is the derived SI unit of luminance. The unit is based on the candela, the SI unit of luminous intensity, and the square metre, the SI unit of area...

 (candelas per square meter). The name was coined by the French physicist André Blondel

André Blondel

André-Eugène Blondel was a French engineer and physicist. He is the inventor of the electromechanical oscillograph and a system of photometric units of measurement.-Life:...

 around 1920. It comes from the Greek word stilbein meaning "to glitter".

It was in common use in Europe up to World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. In North America self-explanatory terms such as candle per square inch and candle per square meter were more common. The unit has since largely been replaced by the SI unit: candela per square meter. The current national standard for SI in the United States discourages the use of the stilb.

Unit conversion

See also

Other units of luminance:

• Nit
  Nit (unit)
  The candela per square metre is the derived SI unit of luminance. The unit is based on the candela, the SI unit of luminous intensity, and the square metre, the SI unit of area...
  
   (nit and millinit)
• Apostilb
  Apostilb
  The apostilb is an old unit of luminance, which was withdrawn from use in 1978. The SI unit of luminance is the candela per square metre . In 1942 it was proposed to rename the apostilb the blondel, after the French physicist André Blondel...
  
   (asb)
• Blondel (blondel)
• Skot (sk)
• Bril (bril)
• Lambert
  Lambert (unit)
  The lambert is a non-SI unit of luminance named for Johann Heinrich Lambert , a Swiss mathematician, physicist and astronomer. A related unit of luminance, the foot-lambert, is used in the lighting, cinema and flight simulation industries...
  
   (L and mL aka millilambert)
• Footlambert (fL)