Eight Nobel Prize Winners, NASA’s First Armenian Astronomer Expected for STARMUS Festival in Armenia

YEREVAN (Armradio) – Armenia will host the 6th STARMUS science and art festival next year. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, Founding Director of STARMUS Festival Garik Israelyan, Ministers of High-Tech Industry Vahagn Khachatryan and Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vahram Dumanyan made the announcement within the framework of the Armenian Summit of Minds in Dilijan.

Announcing the festival, President Sarkissian said it will bring together thousands of participants from different parts of the world.

“It is the best way to encourage our young people, because their future, the future of their families, the future of Armenia will be connected with new technologies, ideas and science. The greatest wealth of our country are people, talented people. Those people must be supported, helped to develop. The best way is to educate and encourage the younger generation and make them believe that they really have a future, both in Armenia and in the world. STARMUS was about rock music and astronomy before the fifth festival, and the sixth STARMUS, which will be held in Armenia, will be different. It will be a festival about music in general, from classical to rock, it will be a festival not only about astronomy, astrology, but also about modern science in general, from astronomy, physics to biology, to artificial intelligence,” he added.

The founding director of the festival Garik Israelyan said that it has been recognized as the best scientific festival in the world twice.

“We are proud of that, because there are more than 50 science festivals in the world. The scientific format is very well known in the US, Germany and Australia, but there has never been a scientific festival in Armenia,” said Garik Israelyan.

He noted that the main goal of the festival is to connect the society to science, because there is a big gap, which is growing.

“If we want to create a connection between society, science and technology, we think of very complex formulas, one of which is STARMUS. We want that connection to be established, strengthened and always continued,” he added.

Announcing the first 30 participants, Israelyan said attending the event will be eight Nobel Prize winners, NASA’s first Armenian astronaut James Baghian, who will be paying his first visit to Armenia, iPod creator Tony Fadell and others.