On 29 January 2019, a festive opening ceremony of the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements will be held in Paris (France) in the UNESCO headquarters.

Minister of Higher Education and Science of Russia Mikhail Kotyukov, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Sergeev, President of the Academy of Sciences of France Pierre Corvol, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of the “PhosAgro” company Andrey Guryev and other leaders of international scientific, academic and public organizations from more than 80 countries will take part in the event.

The programme of the opening ceremony of the International Year in Paris includes lectures by legendary scientists, Nobel Prize laureates, presentations of rising stars of science, interactive scientific shows, musical performances and etc. Among the lecturers there will be world-famous scientists: Ben Feringa (laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry), Sir Martyn Poliakoff (Vice-President of the Royal Society, author of the “The Periodic Table of Videos”), professor Yuri Oganessian (element 118 was named after him – “oganesson”) and other representatives of the international scientific community.

Live broadcast of the opening ceremony will start at 12:00 PM (Moscow time) on the website. At 2:00 PM, the lecture by Scientific Leader of the FLNR JINR Academician Yuri Oganessian “How new chemical elements are produced” will be available on the same website.

Photo: Press Office of the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements in Russia

On 28 – 31 January, in the frames of the opening of the International Year in the UNESCO headquarters, a unique interactive exhibition will be presented dedicated to chemistry and its latest achievements. The historical cluster of the exhibition will depict a chemical laboratory of the 19th century, the first drafts of the Periodic Table as well as will offer a selfie zone with the creator of the Periodic Table D.I. Mendeleev. The audience can learn about the birth of chemical elements in the Universe, about the production of synthesized elements as well as visit the stand of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in the cluster of space and new elements of the Table. In recognition of the achievements of JINR scientists, new elements of the Table with atomic numbers 105, 114, 115 and 118 were named dubnium, flerovium, moscovium, and oganesson.

The interactive chemical exhibition will take visitors to the trip to the zone of virtual reality with advanced educational technologies, the zone of scientific experiments, the IT-zone where visitors will have an opportunity to create their own Periodic Table, the “green chemistry” zone as well as the zone of scientific arts where artworks devoted to chemistry will be presented. Moreover, visitors of the exhibition can attend a molecular bar and test chemical robots. Admission to the exhibition is free.

Photo: press office of the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements in Russia

The Russian opening ceremony of the International Year of the Periodic Table will be held in Moscow, in the RAS Presidium, on 6 February 2019 and will be dedicated to the Day of Russian Science and birthday of Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev.

The all-Russian Science Festival NAUKA 0+ will be the official operator of the opening ceremony of the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements in Paris and Moscow. The Mendeleev’s Periodic Table is announced to be the main theme of the Scientific Festival in 2019. The general partner of the International Year of the Periodic Table in Russia is the “Arts, science, and sports” Charity Foundation.