On September 7, 2024, the Central Botanical Garden of the NAS of Belarus hosted the country's main popular science event, the Science Festival. The event is organized by the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. This year, the Science Festival attracted 22 thousand visitors.
The grand opening of the Festival was attended by: Natallia Piatkievich, First Deputy Head of the Administration of the President, Chairman of the Presidium of the NAS of Belarus Uladzimir Gusakow, Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Republic Siargiej Khamienka, Minister of Education Andrej Ivaniets, representatives of the diplomatic corps, other distinguished guests. As Natallia Piatkievich, First Deputy Head of the Administration of the President, stressed, Belarus is part of the elite pool of countries with advanced science, and all opportunities for young scientists have been created here. As Uladzimir Gusakow noted, this year the scale of the festival is much larger than in all previous years. This is not the first time that the Science Festival has hosted the exhibition-competition 100 Innovations of Young Scientists, which presents current developments. Previously, 100 projects were selected for participation in the competition, but this time there are a record number of 145. "And this is not the limit, there are many more developments. Young people are attracted to science and want to do science. There are good, bright developments in various sectors of the national economy, in fundamental research, in applied science, and in working with enterprises. There is something to show, something to be proud of. At the festival, we tried to update by 90% what we had presented before, so as not to repeat ourselves," Uladzimir Gusakow said.
For the sixth time, thematic venues, lectures from famous scientists, exhibitions of achievements from various fields of science, interactive scientific experiments and master classes for visitors of all ages and interests were organized at the Central Botanical Garden of the NAS of Belarus. The main venues of the event this year were: ‘Space’, ‘Medicine’, ‘Intelligent Technologies’, ‘Ecology’, ‘Taste of Science’ and ‘Laboratory’. Within the framework of the Science Festival, an exhibition-competition 100 Innovations of Young Scientists was held, at which 145 relevant developments of young scientists in six directions were presented.
The Space venue has interested space lovers with its lecture program: a series of lectures about space objects, their exploration, telescopes and satellites. Also, here everyone was able to discover an engineer in themselves and assemble their own space satellite. At the Medicine venue, they talked about dentistry, oncology, blood diseases, the creation of vaccines and medicines. Aleksej Vodovozov, a well-known scientific journalist and medical blogger, became the guest of honour at the lecture venue, who spoke about the possibilities of extending life and longevity. Within the framework of the Intelligent Technologies venue, visitors learned about advanced technical and robotic developments in Belarus and the world. Robotics schools and technical universities have related their educational programs. It was also possible to learn about the future of alternative energy and electric transport at this venue. The Ecology venue provided an opportunity to better understand the issues of garbage sorting and waste recycling, water and air purification, and issues of ultraviolet radiation. People learned more about the nature of Belarus and such distant territories as Arctic and Antarctica. This year, the participants of the festival pleased the visitors with fascinating experiments, scientific shows and spectacular experiments, all this is in the program of the Laboratory venue. It was possible to find out which way food products go before appearing on the shelves and taste new edible developments at the Taste of Science venue.
At the ATOM TEAM venue organized by the Minsk Atomic Energy Information Centre with the support of the engineering division of Rosatom State Corporation, it was possible to learn about breakthrough research and development in the field of peaceful atomic energy use. At the end of the day, the famous astronomer, popularizer of science Vladimir Surdin, spoke about how the development of atomic technologies will help humanity in space exploration. Every year, the organizers of the event put together a unique and versatile program that does not repeat itself. This year, a new venue dedicated to the culture and traditions of Belarusians was organized at the Science Festival. The Ethnography venue related the national cuisine, traditional costumes and crafts of Belarusians, as well as the wedding and funeral rites of our ancestors. Exciting workshops on the manufacture of straw spiders, nabivanka and maliavanka, vytsinanka, as well as traditional hand weaving were waiting for the guests of the Festival.
The event was attended by representatives from the Russian Federation. This is the Reserved Embassy scientific and educational centre of Zaryadye Park with an independent venue, as well as more than 20 participants within the framework of the All-Russian SCIENCE 0+ Festival with ten thematic blocks and a popular science lecture hall. The site of the All-Russian SCIENCE 0+ Festival related the adventures of Schrödinger's cat, who got to another planet and uses his knowledge to get out. At the end of the program, a large scientific show was held on the venue.
The Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus introduced visitors to the achievements of university science and new specialties at the University of the Future venue, where more than 20 leading educational institutions of the country were gathered.
