From 1 to 5 July 2019, the 69th International Conference “Nucleus-2019” on Nuclear Spectroscopy and Nuclear Structure “Fundamental Problems of Nuclear Physics, Nuclei at Borders of Nucleon Stability, High Technologies” is held in Dubna under the authority of JINR and RAS. Co-founders of the Conference are also St. Petersburg and Moscow state universities. Chairman of the organizing committee is Academician V. A. Matveev, JINR Director. Deputy Chairmen are Professors V. B. Brudanin and Yu. E. Penionzhkevich. Scientific Secretary of the Conference is M. A. Naumenko.

“Nucleus” is a regular annual Conference that gathers nuclear physicists from most of the scientific centres of the USSR (up to 2000) and the Russian Federation. The Conference is of crucial importance for postgraduates, professors and staff members of universities that have departments of nuclear physics. Almost all the participants deliver their oral or poster reports, and it is significant for young scientists. It is a great platform for communication of scientists and specialists from all educational centres of Russia with leading scientists of Russia and other countries. About 300 people take part in the Conference: 120 represent JINR, about 100 are from scientific centres and universities of the Russian Federation and about 80 participants have come from the USA, France, India, the Republic of South Africa, China, Japan, and others.

The first day of the Conference is dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the discovery by D. I. Mendeleev the Periodic System of chemical elements. JINR made a considerable contribution to the synthesis of new elements: only recently, elements 113-118 were discovered in the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions. That is why the first plenary session of the Conference was dedicated to the synthesis of new superheavy elements. Yu. Ts. Oganessian made a report on this topic. M. G. Itkis reported on the prospects for JINR development. V. D. Kekelidze delivered a report on the NICA mega-science project, and A. V. Karpov told participants about research conducted in the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions JINR. Participants of the Conference discuss other issues as well: synthesis and properties of new exotic nuclei, nuclear reactions with stable and radioactive beams. Theoretical approaches to various aspects of nuclear physics are considered, as well as the use of methods of nuclear physics in related scientific fields and technology (nuclear medicine, nanotechnologies, radiation technologies, radiation resistance testing of microelectronics and space vehicles).

The Programme of the Conference includes plenary sessions with invited and review reports, sectional parallel sessions with original reports, and poster sessions. The materials presented at the Conference will be published in the refereed journals: “Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences: Physics”, “Physics of Atomic Nuclei”, and “Nuclear Physics and Engineering”.

Following the materials of the press-release of the Conference,
photos by Elena Puzynina