On the 8th and 9th of October, 2022, the 12th Sofia Science Festival took place in the Sofia Tech Park and once again gathered Bulgarian and foreign scientists to present the results of their research, explain known phenomena, and demonstrate how they influence our lives.
The scientists of NMNHS participated with a demonstration stand dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the creation of the museum’s mineralogical collection. Created in 1902, it initially combined several gifted collections, of which Kurt Kamlach’s is the largest. The collection includes 724 specimens and 185 mineral types collected from functioning at the time quarries mainly in Europe. A part of this collection was presented at the NMNHS stand, together with the original labels of the specimens. Visitors to the stand could also view the description of the mineralogical collection in the original copy of the first printed museum catalogue, published in 1907, as well as trace the history of the mineralogical collection in the informational poster.
Assoc. Prof Tihomir Stefanov, ichthyologist at the NMNHS, participant in the 28th Bulgarian Antarctic expedition, and a member of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) presented preserved specimens brought from the Antarctic. Among them were different species of fish found only in the Antarctic, 7 of which are found in the area around the Bulgarian Antarctic base.
Sen. Assist. Dr Nadezhda Karastoyanova, archaeozoologist at NMNHS, took part with a presentation on a stage with the theme From apex predator to pet — history of the domestication of dogs. Dr Karastoyanova spoke about the first evidence of a relationship between humans and dogs and of how the analysis of dog remains from archaeological sites and DNA analyses in the last years have directed scientists towards new hypotheses on dog domestication.