The celebration of Belarusian science was a warm one. It will always be like this when, not only colleagues, but also old friends meet. There were a lot of visitors. The NAS co-operates with scientists from 70 countries, and many of them personally wanted to congratulate the academy on its 85th anniversary. There were delegations from Russia, Ukraine, China, Lithuania, Poland and other CIS countries as well as from Europe and Asia. Leaders of the main scientific organisations from every corner of the globe paid their respects.The honoured guest of the anniversary celebrations, the Nobel laureate, the Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician, Zhores Alferov, delivered a report about breakthrough technologies of the 20th century at the opening of the international Science — for the Innovative Development of Society scientific-practical conference. In his opinion, the most interesting directions in Belarus today are quantum optics and physics and a huge potential in the field of biology, especially in its combination with medicine, information technologies and new diagnostic methods.
“I have always rated Belarusian science very high. Today Belarus is among the leaders in post-Soviet territory, first of all, because it develops on the basis of high technologies and hi-tech industries. And here, people cannot do without the Academy of Sciences,” said Zhores Alferov, confirming that he is ready to take part in the creation of the academic university, while this is provided by the recently developed program of improvement of scientific field of Belarus. A similar university has already operated for more than 10 years under the Russian Academy of Sciences. The main thing in its work is the preparation of scientific manpower, education in graduate school and magistracy. According to the Nobel laureate, the most advanced systems of education, both from scientific and technological point of view, should become an important component of the academic university. According to him, breakthrough directions of the future are the unification of biology and medicine, diagnostics and information technologies. Opening the conference, the Chairman of Presidium of the NAS, Vladimir Gusakov, asked delegates not to forget that the appearance of the scientific field today is tomorrow’s appearance of society. Priorities of research are to be determined taking into account the future. Fundamental research includes nanotechnologies, nano-materials, space, physics, chemistry and mathematics. Applied research should include mechanical engineering, agrarian and biotechnologies. All this should work for the country and the development of its economy.
Just on the eve of the anniversary our Academy of Sciences published the top ten achievements of the year. Physicists, for example, created a new kind of hyperbolic meta-material with unique characteristics: on the one hand, they are absolutely absorbing; on the other hand, they are absolutely leaky. Mathematicians have created new models and methods of solving stability problems. Material scientists developed the technology for reception of current-carrying paints based on nano-sized silver particles that will help in the creation of electronic schemes. The list also included works of neurophysiologists, geophysicists, economists, agrarians, art historians and historians. In order to fully display the results of the innovative activity of our scientists, the NAS opened an exhibition of the latest developments, totalling nearly 500.During this time, the NAS also hosted the international Science — for the Innovative Development of Society scientific-practical conference and a formal meeting of the scientific community, where the best scientific countries were awarded.
By Yuri Selivanov
