On 21 and 22 April, 2022, high school students of the Physics and Mathematics classes of Vologda Secondary School No. 13 and students of the «House of Scientific Collaboration» Centre at the Vologda State University visited JINR. The guests visited the interactive exhibition «JINR basic facilities», Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Museum of the History of Science and Technology, and the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions.
VBLHEP software engineer Nikita Sidorov guided a tour of the interactive exhibition and showed the students the models of the JINR basic facilities.
The visit was continued at the Laboratory of Neutron Physics, where engineer Valery Lobachev presented a pneumatic transport system that delivers prepared samples to the irradiation zone of the IREN facility. Senior researcher Olga Filippova told the students about the study of samples by neutron activation and X-ray fluorescence analysis. Junior researcher Ivan Zel introduced the guests to the SKAT neutron diffractometer, one of the setups of the IBR-2 reactor. The school children learned about the basic principles of neutron experiments and the key elements of the reactor.
At the JINR Museum of the History of Science and Technology, Kirill Kozubsky introduced the visitors to the history of the Institute foundation and the tasks that the scientists of the Institute are currently facing.
The visit to the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions began with an introductory lecture by Scientific Secretary Alexander Karpov. The lecture was devoted to the history of the discovery of natural and artificially synthesized chemical elements and the search for a hypothetical island of elemental stability. Andrey Protasov, head of the DC-280, conducted an excursion to the cyclotron hall, where he explained the principles of the facility operation.
At the end of the tour, the guests visited the laboratories of the FLNR Nanocentre. Engineer Ilya Vinogradov spoke about the creation of track membranes and their applications, and showed the students the equipment designed for studying samples.
Lecturer at the House of Scientific Collaboration» Centre of VSU, member of the All-Russian Expert Pedagogical Council under the Ministry of Education, E.O. Bilovol noted that such excursions provide an opportunity to broaden the horizons of scientific knowledge for the younger generation, to spark scientific interest in school children, enabling them to make discoveries and develop science.
