On 30 January, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research was visited by a group of students, teachers, and graduates of Moscow School No. 179. An eventful programme was organised for the guests: excursions to the Laboratory of High Energy Physics, Laboratory of Nuclear Problems, and Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions.
Acquaintance with JINR began in the Laboratory of High Energy Physics, where D. Dryablov spoke about the megascience project NICA and acquinted the guests with the scientific infrastrusture of the the VBLHEP.
In the afternoon, the guests were welcomed at the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems. N.Anfimov told the listeners about one of the Laboratory’s activities – neutrino research, and showed them the “Dark Room” – a hall where photomultipliers are tested. A.Antoshkin introduced the visitors to the work of the shifters in the Nova experiment control room. The school students were offered a fascinating hands-on – assembly of a particle detector (Wilson chamber), and a demonstration of the operation of an instrument measuring the length of light waves.
The excursion ended in the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions. A.Voinov told the students about the discovery of new elements in the Periodic Table and the applied research conducted in the Laboratory, and guided a tour of the IC-100 accelerator.
The participants of the excursion shared their comments with the organisers:
Ivan, school student, 9 grade of School 179: I was so excited to see the accelerators with my own eyes! In the photos they look different. We were told about the joint projects of JINR with the USA and China, about the island of stability, and the superheavy elements. JINR is buzzing with activity. It’s thrilling.
Alina, graduate of School No.179, PhD student: We want to say a big thank you to the JINR staff members for their warm and attentive attitude and willingness to answer our questions. They really love what they do, this is so inspiring! Thanks to you, we now know how accelerators are built, and how scientific laboratories can work via the Internet. But in addition to the advanced technologies and scientific developments, we learned a lot of interesting things about everyday familiar things – fluorescent lamps and smartphone screens, filters, the Periodic Table elements. And, of course, I can’t but mention the delicious meal in the Canteen and the fresh pine scent on the JINR territory. They nourished our body and mind during the breaks, which helped us a lot to digest all of the new information.
A. Tarchevsky, Physics teacher of School 179: Thank you to the JINR specialists and the organisers for the excellent extensive programme tailored specifically for our students, teachers, and graduates. This is a unique opportunity to see the practical implementation of the numerous ideas we have discussed in class. Also, it was a valuable experience for my students to talk with real scientists working at JINR. The younger generation of our school students is on the way, so…see you soon, JINR!
