Popular science lectures in March, April and May

On March 31 at 18.30 in the Great Auditorium of the Polytechnic Museum (Novaya Ploshchad, 3/4, entrance 9), with the participation of the Foundation for the Support of Fundamental Physics, a debate will be held “ Where did the expansion of the Universe begin?” ". Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valery Rubakov and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Igor Tkachev are participating in the debate.

Modern cosmology aims to answer questions about why the Universe is so big, old and flat; why is it homogeneous and the same in all directions; Why is there so many particles in it, but nothing superfluous? I. Tkachev believes that the simple and elegant theory of cosmic inflation perfectly explains all observational data. V. Rubakov doubts the need for the theory of cosmic inflation, since its observational confirmation has not yet been received.

The moderator of the debate is Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, leading researcher at the Tamm Department of Theoretical Physics of the Lebedev Physical Institute Alexey Semikhatov. Free admission.

From March 31 to April 3, Dmitry Zimin’s Dynasty Foundation is holding the Days of Science festival in the Arkhangelsk region. Famous teachers, popularizers, outstanding Russian and foreign scientists will tell listeners about unique scientific discoveries. Special master classes await teachers of physics, mathematics, chemistry and biology. The festival is being held for the first time in the Russian North.

“Science Days” will open on March 31 in the city of Mirny, where scientists and teachers from Moscow and Irkutsk will demonstrate “Unboring science through the eyes of enthusiastic people.” Then Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk take up the baton. On April 1, a charity event will be held - the donation of popular science publications to schools, orphanages, universities and libraries of the Arkhangelsk region. Then the participants of the round table “Profile training: dead end or progress?” will discuss the problems of training the intellectual elite. On April 2, popular science lectures “Comet-asteroid danger: truth and fiction” by astrophysicist and popularizer of science Sergei Yazev and “From Lamarck to Darwin and back: genetic variability in bacteria” by world-renowned biologist Konstantin Severinov will be held; April 3 - popular science talk show “Science: Myths and Reality”, the purpose of which is to confirm, refute or analyze the myths of our time or common statements accepted in society. Then everyone is invited to a screening of the popular science film “From Adam to the Atom.”

On April 1, 2 and 3, the Theater of Entertaining Science will open its doors: “His Majesty Experiment” will show young viewers the fascinating facets of physical science. The venue for the performances will be secondary school #11 in Arkhangelsk.

A detailed program of events in the Arkhangelsk region is posted on the websites of “ Dynasty ” and the Arkhangelsk Center for Social Technologies “Garant” (in the “Science Days in Arkhangelsk” section).

In Moscow, in the Small Auditorium of the Polytechnic Museum, on March 25 at 19.00 there will be a lecture by Konstantin Severinov “Heredity in bacteria: from Lamarck to Darwin and back.” The lecture will take place as part of the Polit.ru public lecture series . The lecture will talk about several classic experiments that made it possible to establish that the evolution of bacteria occurs according to the Darwinian mechanism. The lecturer will also report on the surprising results of recent experiments showing that the Lamarckian mechanism is also widespread.

As part of the same cycle, on April 1 at 19.00 in the Great Auditorium of the Polytechnic Museum, Mikhail Gelfand, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Deputy Director of the Institute of Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor of the Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics of Moscow State University, will give his lecture “Bioinformatics: Molecular Biology between the Test Tube and the Computer.”

On April 8 at 19.00 there will be a lecture by Mikhail Katsnelson “Quantum, nano and graphene”, on April 15 at 19.00 there will be a lecture by Konstantin Sonin “The Economics of the Financial Crisis. Two years later”, April 22 at 19.00 - Mikhail Favorov “Vaccines, vaccination and their role in public health” and, finally, April 29 at 19.00 - Alexandra Markov “Evolutionary roots of good and evil: bacteria, ants, humans.” Admission to these lectures is free. More detailed information and directions can be found on the website of the Polytechnic Museum .

In March and April, the Central Lecture Hall of the Polytechnic Museum continues its work; in the Small Auditorium on March 29 at 18.30 there will be a lecture by Vladimir Surdin, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, associate professor, senior researcher at the SAI MSU, “New discoveries in the Solar System.” Employees of the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute and the Institute of Astronomy of the Academy of Sciences (INASAN) will also give lectures: April 19 - “Variable Stars” (Nikolai Samus), April 26 - “Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations” (Vladimir Surdin), May 17 - “What We Know about neutron stars and what we want to know" (Sergei Popov), May 24 - "UFO" (Vladimir Surdin). The lecture program is subject to change.