On 13 September, the winners of the OGANESSON Prize were announced at the 136th session of the Scientific Council of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. The Prize was created at the suggestion and expense of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Yuri T. Oganessian and established at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in 2023. The Prize founders are Yuri Oganessian and JINR. This year is the second time the Prize is awarded.

Grigory Trubnikov announcing the names of the laureates at the 136th session of the JINR Scientific Council

Speaking at the session of the Scientific Council, JINR Director, RAS Academician Grigory Trubnikov noted that the Prize is awarded annually for significant achievements in theoretical and experimental research in physics, chemistry, biology, and applied problems, as well as for creative endeavours that popularise science by means of educational and scientific activities. “This year, the jury selected four prizes for five laureates, and we are pleased to inform the Scientific Council of our decision,” Grigory Trubnikov said.

The winners of the OGANESSON Prize in 2024 are:

• Aliya Nurmukhanbetova, Head of the Nazarbayev University Research and Innovation System Laboratory (NURIS, Republic of Kazakhstan), and Galina Knyazheva, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions at JINR. Aliya Nurmukhanbetova received the prize for the development and implementation of a new programme for the study of the lightest nuclei at the low-energy ion accelerator (DC-60). Galina Knyazheva was awarded for pioneering work on the observation and study of the quasi-fission process of the heaviest nuclei.
• Tatiana Chernigovskaya, Director of the Institute of Cognitive Research of Saint Petersburg State University (Russia), Professor, Honoured Worker of Higher Education and Honoured Scientist of the Russian Federation, for outstanding contribution to the popularisation of scientific knowledge and the development of interdisciplinary research at the intersection of neuroscience, linguistics, and psychology.
• Yuri Zolotov, RAS Academician, Chief Researcher at the Department of Analytical Chemistry of Moscow State University, Chief Researcher at the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry (Russia), for outstanding scientific work in analytical chemistry, for significant personal contribution to the training of young scientists, specialists, and highly qualified personnel.
• Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa), for significant contribution to the development of scientific cooperation between South Africa and JINR in nuclear reactions, accelerator technologies, and relativistic nuclear physics.

Yuri Oganessian at the 136th meeting of the JINR Scientific Council

The ceremony of awarding the winners of the OGANESSON Prize for 2024 will take place next February in Moscow.

In 2022, Academician Yuri Oganessian received the Sber Scientific Prize for fundamental work on the synthesis of superheavy elements. Academician Oganessian decided to direct the 20 million roubles that he received to support young scientists and popularisers of science and cultivate talents in the field irrespective of their age.

The decision to award the Prize is made by a jury of international experts chaired by the Scientific Leader of the National Centre for Physics and Mathematics, RAS Academician Alexander Sergeev and approved by JINR Director, RAS Academician Grigory Trubnikov.

The OGANESSON Prize is awarded annually. Individual scientific, engineering, and technical specialists or teams of authors (no more than three people), whose contribution was decisive in solving scientific problems and/or popularisation projects, can participate in the competition for the Prize.

The OGANESSON Prize ceremony for 2023 took place on 16 February this year in Moscow. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts hosted the event.