The 2020 program of events was rich and varied: 3 popular science lectures, a scientific-practical conference for schoolchildren "VI Mendeleev Readings", and intellectual games.
Exactly on the Day of Russian Science on February 8, the lecture was held at the JINR Museum of the History of Science and Technology, dedicated to academician and Nobel laureate Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, his scientific and civic merits. The lecture was delivered by Marina Frontasieva, Candidate of Physics and Mathematics, Associate Professor, Advisor to the Director of the LNP JINR for Applied Research and Innovation.
On February 11, a member of the JINR Museum K.E. Kozubsky gave a lecture “Inventions of Women: Truth Through Legends”, dedicated to the International Women's Day in Science. In his review, the lecturer mentioned 21 female inventors: from Hypatia of Alexandria, who created the hydrometer, to the Canadian Yvonne Brill, who developed the hydrazine engine for spaceships. I must say that the topic of female inventions has become extremely popular in the press and on social networks. Moreover, the authors of numerous publications often slide from strictly factual soil into a quagmire of all kinds of fantasies, both ultra-feminist and anti-feminist. However, Kozubsky’s lecture was devoted only to absolutely reliable inventions.
Starting in 2013, the JINR Museum of the History of Science and Technology holds annual Mendeleev Readings conferences as part of the Days of Science. The task of the Readings is to give students of elementary and middle classes who are interested in various scientific phenomena an opportunity to talk about them vividly, intelligibly, and fascinatingly.
The 2020 readings opened on February 16 with a lecture by A. E. Zlotnikova, a member of the JINR Museum, “Amazing inventions made by children.” The lecturer began her story with hand-held swimming blades, which Benjamin Franklin, 12, invented and made himself, and completed with the original and useful inventions of our young contemporaries. Then, students in grades 4–8 made presentations on physical and chemical topics: “Caffeine in Our Lives,” “Home Vermiferm,” “Mover Without Moving Parts,” and “How Faraday’s Laws Help Improve Materials.” The genuine delight of the young audience was caused by the experiments with the transformer and plasma balls of Nikola Tesla, which were demonstrated by K. E. Kozubsky. February 24 is the second stage of the Mendeleev Readings. The guys made presentations in mathematics, physics and chemistry: “Letters in numbers”, “Evolution of the toothbrush”, “History of ink”, “Golden ratio in the Universe, on the planet and in Dubna”, “Home vermiferm”. All the speakers at the Mendeleev Readings received commemorative diplomas and gift sets. The Readings of 2020 ended with the intellectual brain ring “Inventions that Changed the World”. The game involved three children's teams and one parent.
On February 18, A. A. Rastorguev, a JINR Museum employee, gave a lecture “Farewell, Aristotle!” Hello, Descartes ”, dedicated to the revolution in the natural sciences and natural philosophy, which occurred in the XVII century. It was a real surge of knowledge, illuminated in detail by a lecturer. It is also noteworthy that it was in the 17th century that the highest authority on the evaluation and systematization of the achievements of the human mind - the Scientific Community - was born.
On February 21, the JINR Museum hosted a sports game What? Where? When? Dedicated to the history of inventions. A new, experimental version of this game beloved by many was successfully tested.