On 11 – 13 July, Mongolia, a Member State of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, celebrates Naadam, the main national holiday of the country.

Naadam holiday is dedicated to the anniversary of the National Democratic Revolution, which was accomplished in 1921 and put the beginning of a new historical epoch in the development of the Mongolian State. According to a centuries-old tradition, Mongolian people celebrate these festive days with wide participation in popular sports – wrestling, horse racing and archery.

Mongolia has been a JINR Member State since its foundation. For more than half a century, Mongolian scientists have been successfully taking part in JINR activities. Nowadays, collaboration is carried out on 17 topics of the JINR Topical Plan in all fields of JINR activities, including the educational programme.

Last month, a delegation of the Embassy of Mongolia to the Russian Federation visited JINR. During the visit, the parties discussed prospects for the Mongolia-JINR cooperation development and paid special attention to the educational field and spread of information about the Institute. At the meeting, in particular, the possibility of the admission of Mongolian students majoring in natural sciences through the University “Dubna” and the new MSU branch in Dubna. In addition, representatives of the Mongolian diplomatic mission presented awards of the Mongolian Government to two employees of the Joint Institute.

In 2021 – 2022, JINR conducted two independent studies to assess air quality in one of the ecologically dirtiest capitals of the world, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Scientists of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions JINR identified risks of radioecological pollution in the area of the coal-fired TPP-4 operating in the city using X-ray fluorescence, gamma-activation, and gamma-spectrometric analysis methods. Scientists of the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics JINR in cooperation with the Mongolian Scientific Centre are conducting research using moss biomonitors at stationary urban air quality assessment stations, using the method of atomic emission spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma.

It is noteworthy that experimental and theoretical results obtained with the participation of Mongolian JINR staff members, were published in the journal “Nature Physics”. New possibilities of Compton ionization of atoms were shown during the transfer of energy close to the threshold of single ionization as an effective method of spectroscopy of the outer shells of atoms and molecules. As a result, the pioneers’ attempts to use the Compton effect, which was discovered almost 100 years ago for the purposes of spectroscopy of quantum objects using then imperfect technology, have gained a new impetus today.

JINR Directorate congratulates Mongolian colleagues on the national holiday of Naadam and wishes them and their families good health, happiness, and fruitful work at the multinational Institute for the benefit of science and progress!