stilb

The unit of illuminance in the centimeter-gram-second electromagnetic system of units = 1 candle per square centimeter. Adopted by the International Commission on Illumination in 19xx. Symbol, sb.

One stilb corresponds to 1 candela per square centimeter in SI units. Although in common use in Europe,¹ in North America “the preferred practice is to use self-explanatory terms such as candle per square inch and candle per square meter.”² Currently, this quantity would be expressed in candela per square meter.

According to the current national standard in the United States³, the stilb is not to be used.

1. Parry Moon.
System of photometer concepts.
Journal of the Optical Society of America, volume 32, number 6 (June 1942).

Page 355: "The lumen was proposed by Blondel in 1894 and is now universally accepted. The names, phot and stilb were likewise coined by Blondel (1921) and are in general use on the Continent."

2. American Standard Definitions of Electrical Terms.
New York: American Institute of Electrical Engineers, 1941.
Reference 55.05.075

3. IEEE/ASTM SI 10™-2002.
American National Standard for Use of the International System of Units (SI): The Modern Metric System.
New York: IEEE, 30 December 2002.

See Section 3.3.3.