From 24 to 26 June 2024, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research hosted a three-day intensive, which was attended by high school students from Tomsk. Ten students and three teachers of the Zaozernaya Secondary School № 16 got acquainted with JINR, visited experimental laboratories, listened to lectures given by scientists, actively participated in workshops on nuclear physics, and in discussions of physical phenomena during the experiments demonstration. The visit was organised with the support of JINR Information Center at Tomsk Polytechnic University and the JINR University Centre.

The participants of the event shared their impressions they are taking with them to Siberia.

Ivan Gladyshev: “What impressed the most during these three days, were the people, the scientists, and the way they presented the information. After all, it is the environment which forms our consciousness, worldview, and thoughts in general. And the first person who comes to my mind when I think about Dubna is Ivan Alekseevich Lomachenkov, who showed experiments and explained certain physical phenomena in an understandable manner. Thank you for such an interesting lesson!

Next, but not least, comes Yuri Sergeyevich Severyukhin. I had shown interest in space before, but perhaps this man managed to melt my heart to this topic even more. In addition, me, who was completely uninterested in medicine, sat fascinated and listened to a lecture on biophysics, which I remembered and then retold to my parents.

I also really liked the practice of observing cosmic particles, which was conducted by Gennady Alexandrovich Yarygin, Pavel Dmitrievich Semchukov, and Nikita Andreevich Lashmanov, it was extremely interesting to learn about this work not only from a computer, but also to feel it all by yourself, try to do everything with your own hands, of course, with the help of detailed explanations of our specialists whose names are mentioned above.

And finally, I would like to thank Yuri Anatolyevich Panebratsev, who came to Tomsk six months before our trip and told me about everything that I could see with my own eyes during these three days. Yuri Anatolyevich also gave an entertaining lecture, which in fact got us up to date with everything that other scientists have been telling us all this time.”

Albina Kuznetsova: “On the first day we visited “JINR Basic Facilities” exhibition, where we listened to a lecture on how JINR was founded, how the origin of our world began, and what chemical elements were discovered in Dubna. I was struck by the periodic table installed in the exhibition hall, where objects made of elements are inserted. An amazing table! I was also interested in the Curiosity rover, for which JINR produced a DAN device that determines the content of chlorine and water in the soil of the planet’s surface. The team from TUSUR and I made our own lunar rover and took the manipulator from this rover as a sample.

On the last day of the school, we visited Laboratory the information technologies, where we saw a Supercomputer, got acquainted with old computers, as well as various drives, including an incredibly large hard drive.

Thanks to the quest around the city, we were able to get to know it better! It was interesting and emotional! Dubna is a very beautiful city! I would stay here for a longer period of time!”

Ekaterina Pozhidaeva: “The trip to Dubna and JINR will remain in my memory for a long time. I was sincerely delighted with the possibilities of the Institute. I remembered everything. Starting with NICA, and ending with a Virtual laboratory. It’s a great honor for me to see it live. The scientists of JINR are truly its pride. I have never seen such smart and dedicated people anywhere. They are passionate about their projects, they are interested in exploring and talking about it. I would like to thank everyone.

Polina Mordvintseva: I enjoyed the workshop “Registration of cosmic particles”, which was conducted by Gennady Alexandrovich Yarygin, Pavel Dmitrievich Semchukov, and Nikita Andreevich Lashmanov, during the lesson we were taught how to work with an oscilloscope correctly, it was the first time for us, complicated things were explained to us in easy and understandable words, the work was entertaining and informative.”

Tatyana Burkova, physics teacher, deputy director for educational work: “Our intensive scientific and engineering school in Dubna has come to an end. These days have brought a lot of new, interesting and even fantastic things. Each day of the visit was different from the previous one, master classes were replaced by practice, there were lectures and round-table talks, experiments, studying particle tracks, experiments, a quest around the city, excursions to the NICA collider, an interactive exhibition, virtual laboratory work. And communication with Yuri Panebratsev and colleagues from JINR is simply invaluable!

We did not arrive at the hotel until 5:30 PM, but our restless ones still had time to play volleyball on the Volga embankment, go to the gym, walk around the city, and buy souvenirs. Thank you, Dubna, for your hospitality, great weather, communication, and energy boost!”