Happy birthday, Institute!

On 26 March, we celebrate the Foundation Day of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. This is a special day for every employee of the Institute. A day full of pride in our international scientific centre. Our Institute is truly unique thanks to the community of researchers from different countries gathered in Dubna to look beyond the horizon of the known and deny the boundaries of knowledge.

In 2023, JINR is summing up the results of the past seven-year period. We are completing it at a difficult time but with bright results. The team of the Flerov Laboratory has synthesised as many as six new isotopes of superheavy elements, namely of nobelium, moscovium, hassium, seaborgium, and darmstadtium. The most recent result, obtained in February this year, was the first observation of the previously unknown darmstadtium-275 isotope. Each new isotope is a discovery in world science. These achievements established the Institute’s leading position in the field of synthesis of superheavy elements.

The work of an international team of scientists and engineers at the NICA Complex resulted in the launch of the second cascade and the first step in the implementation of a physical programme for the study of superdense nuclear matter. The experiment during the fourth commissioning run at the NICA Complex lasted from September to February, became the longest in history, and collected more than 550 million events.

The neutrino telescope on Lake Baikal reached a volume of 0.5 km3 and obtained new data on exotic signals from space. In a short period of time, it identified 11 events associated with ultrahigh-energy neutrinos (up to 100 TeV). Each of such registered particles is a worldwide event in astrophysics. For comparison, the American IceCube Telescope in Antarctica has collected about 100 neutrinos in 10 years.

The “Govorun” Supercomputer entered the top twenty systems of the world TOP-500 rating in terms of data efficiency due to its modernisation. The peak performance of the machine is more than 2 PFLOPS, and by this indicator we are among the leaders of supercomputers in the JINR Member States.

Thanks to the support of the Governments of the Member States, the Institute is optimistic about the future and is making big plans for the next seven years. International cooperation is expanding, including with countries in Latin America, India, and the Republic of Korea. I would like to highlight the significant steps in the development of integration with Mexico and China.

The Declaration of Intent signed with Mexico in February this year is an intergovernmental agreement that sets out intentions for further rapprochement between JINR and Mexico. The scientific programme of the Institute correlates well with the programme of Mexican universities and scientific organizations and opens up new opportunities for all Member States of the Institute.

JINR has always had special relations with China, one of the founding states of our international scientific centre. The longstanding fruitful cooperation between JINR and Chinese research organizations has never stopped. Indeed, the flagship example of our cooperation in recent times has been China’s participation in the NICA Megascience Project. The signing of the Protocol on Strengthening Cooperation in the Field of Basic Scientific Research, which took place on the eve of the Foundation Day of the Joint Institute, is deeply symbolic. It is a big step towards China’s return to the JINR international scientific family. We and our Chinese colleagues have a lot of interesting joint work ahead of us.

The main mission of the Institute is the development of science and applied research across the entire line of studying the fundamental properties of matter. In these turbulent times, we are supported by our principles and values, the most important of them being scientific cooperation. Today, more than ever, we are aware of the special role of science not only in the sustainable development of civilisation, but also in preserving peace on the planet. JINR must remain a special scientific bridge, a place of open scientific dialogue between countries to address the global challenges facing humanity, in accordance with the Sofia Declaration of the Committee of Plenipotentiary Representatives adopted in Bulgaria in November 2021.

On JINR’s Foundation Day, when talking about successes and prospects, of course, we recall the founding fathers with gratitude. They have transmitted to us, their successors, a commitment to the ideals of service to science for the sake of world scientific progress. I would also like to thank our veterans, whose successes we are proud of and strive to match, and our partners around the world for their effective support and trust in the Institute.

Dear colleagues and friends, I congratulate the entire multinational staff of the Institute, talented people with bold ideas and a great passion for science on JINR’s birthday. I am sure that our close-knit team, which serves as an example of mutual understanding between peoples, will grow in talents and achieve new bright scientific results!

Science brings nations together!

JINR Director RAS Academician Grigory Trubnikov