The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences celebrated 152 years since its establishment with a solemn assembly in “Prof. Marin Drinov” Hall. The celebration was attended by the Minister of Education and Science Corr. Mem. Nikolai Denkov, the Deputy Minister of Education and Science Corr. Mem. Konstantin Hadjiivanov, scientists and friends of the Academy.
The President of BAS Prof. Julian Revalski, Full Member of the Academy, recalled the most basic moments in the history of the Bulgarian Learned Society. The establishment of the Bulgarian Learned Society is undoubtedly one of the brightest achievements of the National Revival times, and the basic principles laid down in its first Statute have been respected until today, said in his speech Prof. Revalski. Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has marked in a different way the lives of each of us and the scientific activity of BAS, he said, and emphasized that the Academy has actively engaged its scientific expertise in the fight to overcome the severe consequences of the pandemic. Prof. Revalski noted that despite the difficult pandemic situation, the tendency to increase the quality of scientific outputs in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is not only maintained but also increasing.
Minister of Education and Science Nikolai Denkov congratulated the scientists of BAS on the occasion of the holiday. The last two years have shown how important the role of science is – not only as a source of knowledge but as a source of solutions when there are difficulties, said Minister Denkov. We should congratulate BAS because the Academy and its specialists were on the front line in trying to convince our society to accept the achievements of science and thus preserve health, life, revive the economy, keep our children in school, he added.
An academic speech on the occasion titled “If you drop gold and a book, pick up the book first” was made by Corr. Mem. Ivan Ilchev.
The Academy of Journalists Awards for 2020 were presented at the ceremony in four categories. The Vice-President of BAS Prof. Evdokia Pasheva announced the decision of the Governing Council of the Academy and pointed out that the achievements of Bulgarian scientists should be objectively presented to the public. In the category “Print Media”, two awards were given – to Stella Marinova from Monitor newspaper and to Milena Dimitrova from Telegraph newspaper. Nadelina Aneva from NOVA NEWS received an award in the category “Electronic Media”, and for “Online Media” the award went to Valkan Goranov from MediaBricks.bg. The special award for long-standing coverage of the activities of BAS was awarded to Maria Cherneva from the Bulgarian National Television.
Video from the ceremony can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/tA4GBqthWqk
