School students from St. Petersburg visiting JINR

On 10-11 December, high-school students of St. Petersburg Gymnasium No. 295, who specialise in Physics and Mathematics, visited JINR. Guests visited the Museum of History of Science and Technology of JINR, the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics, the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions and the Veksler and Baldin Laboratory of High Energy Physics.

Today's school students interested in science are tomorrow's engineers, scientists, and IT specialists. It is very important to show these young people that they can make their dreams come true, applying their knowledge, skills, and talent here, in Dubna. JINR as a developing organisation needs a constant influx of young highly-qualified personnel, therefore it pays great attention to programmes popularising science.

The visit started in the JINR Museum of the History of Science and Technology, where A. Zlotnikova and K. Kozubskiy told the guests about the achievements of Dubna scientists and new scientific projects of the Institute. Special attention of high-school students was attracted by the Museum hall, where a collection of instruments and mechanisms demonstrating certain physics laws is exhibited.

In the course of their acquaintance with the fields of scientific research of the Institute, the students were guided around the IBR-2 reactor by E. Lychagin, Deputy Director for Science of the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics. The young visitors learned about the fundamental and applied research being conducted in the Laboratory.

The second half of the day was devoted to the visit to the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions. FLNR Deputy Director for Science S. Sidorchuk gave a lecture on the history of discovery of super-heavy elements, told the listeners about the greatest achievements of Dubna scientists, and the future plans of the laboratory. A. Voinov conducted a tour of the IC-100 accelerator used to produce track membranes and the Super Heavy Elements Factory under construction, and the team of Prof. Orelovich told the guests about the principles of electron microscope operation.

At the end of the visit, the high-school students listened to a lecture “NICA - Megascience Project”, where a junior researcher of VBLHEP K. Roslon introduced the visitors to the modern understanding of the structure of matter, told them about the theory of the Universe origin and about construction of the accelerator complex in Dubna with its collider and scientific riddles that JINR scientists hope to solve with the help of this gigantic setup. The 2-day visit came to its end in the VBLHEP Magnet Hall, where a junior researcher of the laboratory M. Shandov introduced the guests to all the stages of assembly and testing of superconducting magnets, which will soon become part of the international NICA project.