On 21 April, a festive seminar dedicated to the 90th jubilee of Scientific Leader of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions JINR RAS Academician Yuri Oganessian was held at JINR. A week earlier, a festive event was held at the Central Scientists’ Club in Moscow. Colleagues from other scientific centres and representatives of relevant institutions gathered there to congratulate Yuri Tsolakovich. This time Academician Oganessian received congratulations from employees of the Joint Institute and heads of the Dubna city, he got many presents and kind words. Yuri Oganessian read a lecture for the audience about the history of the discovery, synthesis, and investigation of physical and chemical properties of the heaviest chemical elements studied at the Superheavy Element Factory in Dubna.

Opening the seminar, JINR Vice-Director Sergey Dmitriev noted, “Yuri Tsolakovich turns 90, he is a world-famous scientist, a man who stood at the origins of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions and has been a recognised world leader in his scientific area for more than 30 years, the area the development of which is determined by his intuition and approach. Not only FLNR is proud of Yuri Tsolakovich but also the entire Institute. He is our symbol.”

Head of the Dubna City District Sergey Kulikov and Chairman of the Council of Deputies, Head of the Social Infrastructure Management Office Andrey Tamonov congratulated Academician Oganessian. “Thanks to your work Dubna is now imprinted in the Mendeleev’s Periodic Table,” the Head of the City noted. “You are a reference point for our school children who know that they can write you a letter using the names of chemical elements as an address.” “You are the ambassador of Dubna in the world, you are our symbol,” Andrey Tamonov added.

JINR Vice-Director Latchesar Kostov read out a congratulatory address from the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency. Head of the JINR Council of National Groups, VBLHEP researcher Yerzhan Mukhamedzhanov conveyed congratulations from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

“Anniversaries are usually our personal milestones. But when it is Yuri Tsolakovich who celebrates a jubilee, then it is a milestone of the Laboratory, the Institute, and world science. This is a landmark event,” JINR Vice-Director Vladimir Kekelidze highlighted in his speech.

“We are grateful and happy to live and work next to you, doing one common thing,” Head of the FLNP Nuclear Physics Department Valery Shvetsov said in his congratulatory address. “Yuri Tsolakovich exemplifies the best attitude to science, the way of working, living and being a fan of the things one is engaged in. You are a wise and far-sighted person,” DLNP Director Vadim Bednyakov highlighted in his speech.

On that day, Yuri Oganessian received congratulations from BLTP Director Dmitry Kazakov, VBLHEP Acting Director Andrey Butenko, MLIT JINR Director Sergei Shmatov, MLIT Scientific Leader Vladimir Korenkov, MLIT Deputy Director Tatiana Strizh, LRB Director Alek­sandr Bugay, FLNP Deputy Director Yuri Kopach, and FLNP chief researcher Victor Aksenov, as well as representatives of the UC JINR headed by Yuri Panebrattsev.