OREANDA-NEWS. January 15, 2009. In the morning the managers and employees of the Institute gathered at Igor Kurchatov Square and laid flowers on his grave.

In the afternoon the Scientific Council of the Institute held a jubilee conference.

Several generations of employees of Kurchatov Institute gathered in the conference hall: the scientists who worked with Igor Kurchatov, young promising researchers and the future of the Institute – students of Nano-Technologies and Informatics Department of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Director of the Institute of Cognitive Science B.Velichkovsky presented the development prospects of cognitive technologies.

“The adjective ”cognitive” comes from the Latin verb “cogniscere” – to know, to learn, to understand. Unlike the times of Descartes (cogito ergo sum; res extensa vs.res cogitans), today, the term “cognitive” refers not only to the process of thinking but also to any forms of man’s interaction with the environment based on the principle of generation of the image of a situation.”

Velichkovsky believes that in the next 10–15 years we will witness a number of revolutionary changes and discoveries in the field of nano-, bio- and cognitive technologies.

He pointed out that the studies carried out by Kurchatov Institute had always been ahead of time and set pace for the most advanced scientific directions, one of which is cognitive technologies.

In conclusion, the secretary of the Scientific Council L.Sokolovsky named the laureates of I.Kurchatov Award in 2008.