Academic gala – versus distress and helplessness

Budapest

Apart from the main organizer, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, several other institutes hosted different programs of the Hungarian Science Festival in Budapest. Events covered various themes ranging from robot warfare through minority issues to new medical healing and preventive methods, so the offering had something in store for everyone interested in the work of contemporary Hungarian scholars of the natural and social sciences.

The psychological conference on Creativity and Talent, which studied the metamorphoses of the concept of creativity during the past fifty years of psychology took place in the lecture hall of the Academy on the 11th of November. Its motto was Ferenc Mérei's definition of creativity: „Creative people don't adapt but create, don't learn but find and find out." Lecturers from different institutes presented their specialised perspectives and own results. Concluding the presentation series, Csaba Pléh, member of the Academy, a prominent psychologist in the field of psycholinguistics, reviewed the history of research dealing with creativity from 1960 till nowadays, paying special attention to the factors which highlight aspects of scientific creativity, and to the measurement of creativity.

The open day of the Research Institute of Technical Physics and Material Science of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was held on the 13th of November. In the morning, vistitors were could take a close-up view of the work going on here by watching documentary films on the research projects of the institute, and later by listening to thematic lectures and visiting labs under the guidance of their leaders. The materials of the scientific lectures held in the board-room can be downloaded from the website of this program. However, those who preferred the laboratory visits organised simultaneously had to choose from such alluring issues as ellipsometry, holography or machine sight.