Meeting with the scientists of the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia in the European Researchers’ Night
On 29 September 2023 at 18:00 in the foyer of the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia was opened a temporary exhibition “Contemporary challenges for Bulgarian biospeleology”, dedicated to the centennial of Bulgarian biospeleological research.
The doyen of Bulgarian biospeleology, Dr Petar Beron, Professor Emeritus of the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia, and Assoc. Prof. Nikolay Simov opened officially the exhibition. Prof. Beron gave a speech about his teachers in the area of biospeleology — Acad. Ivan Buresh and Acad. Vasil Golemanski, who inspired his first steps in cave exploration.
The visitors view the film footage from Bulgaria’s longest cave — the 19164 metres long “Kolkina Dupka”, filmed by a team led by Violeta Zhelyazkova in 2019.
Afterwards, Assoc. Prof. Simov gave a presentation on “Contemporary challenges for Bulgarian biospeleology — unexplored territories, novel scientific challenges, unsolved mysteries” in front of the fully packed Leventis Hall.
For the first time, the branch of NMNHS in Asenovgrad took part in European Researchers’ Night. Visitors of the Palaeontological Museum Dimitar Kovachev, could visit the temporary exhibition “Contemporary challenges for Bulgarian biospeleology”, dedicated to the centennial of Bulgarian speleological research.
In the Town Library “Paisiy Hilendarski”, Dr Nedko Nedyalkov, curator of the Palaeontological Museum Dimitar Kovachev gave a presentation on the topic of “Mammals in the caves of Bulgaria”.
NMNHS also hosted the program prepared by the scientists from the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research of BAS.
The events are financed by the European Commission from the “Horizon Europe” program, in accordance with the SEARCH: Science + Environment + ART = Resilience project. Members of the project believe that science must be accessible and inspiring for everyone, especially for young people, by encouraging them towards opportunities for careers in the areas of scientific research.
The European Researchers’ Night is an initiative, which traditionally takes place on the last Friday of September and involves over 300 cities from Europe and around the world. Every year during Science Night we inspire new researchers and explorers of nature.
