CONFERENCE
Japanese Kendo comes to University of Latvia
Kendo, a modern sword martial art meaning ‘the way of the sword’, dates back to the time of the Samurai in Japan. The abolition of Samurai clans left many people in Japan without the trade and philosophy formed in the course of centuries. The Kendo Club of the University of Latvia (UL) offers to participate in free-of-charge Kendo classes and develop the body and spirit. The club was founded over three years ago by students enthusiastic about Kendo.
Choir Aura makes dream come true in Malta
On 31 October–3 November 2013, the University of Latvia Faculty of Physics and Mathematics choir Aura took part in the 5th Malta International Choir Competition & Festival. Aura gained three golden awards, the first place in the Peoples’ Music category and an opportunity to participate in the Champions’ Category of the World Choir Olympiad 2014. Before the festival in Malta, Aura won a competition organised by the bear producing company Cēsu Alus and gained a prize of LVL 10,000. The singers used the money to fulfil their dream of going to the choir festival.
Academic Association Austrums through Centuries and Continents
The year 2013 marked the 130th anniversary of Latvian Academic Association Austrums. The Association was founded in 1883 by a group of Latvian students in Moscow. The Head of the Association was Jānis Čakste who was a student at the Faculty of Law in Moscow University at the time. Later Čakste became the first President of the Republic of Latvia. The meetings of the Association were called reading nights of Latvian students in Moscow. The name of the organisation has been changed several times, but it still unites students from Latvia and prepares them for work to be done in promoting their nation. Just like 130 years ago, members of the organisation gather at public readings providing them with spiritual growth and inspiration.
Riga’s First Printing House Marks 425th Anniversary
In the spring of 1588, Nicolaus Mollinus, the founder of the first printing house in Riga, arrived at the Latvian capital, which was under Polish rule at the time. Originating from Antwerp in Belgium, Mollinus comes from a family of typographers and engravers. Mollinus’ biography and reasons for coming to Riga have been extensively research during the last decades. His true motives might remain a mystery, but it is likely that the town council of Riga made a politically far-sighted order of books to transfer ideas in the unstable and dangerous conditions of the time. The most exhaustive collection of publications by Mollinus can be found at the depositary of historic printed material at the University of Latvia Academic Library. The library was founded on the basis of Bibliotheca Rigensis, the first library in Latvia. The collection features broadsides and excerpts from old printed material saved in the form of broadsides, as well as presentable books in leather and bindings decorated with gilded Coats of Arms of Riga.
Synergy between Science and Culture
Science and culture complement and facilitate each other. Nowadays concerts are impossible without microphones and sound equipment developed by scientists, while culture and art can be used to explain and promote complicated scientific issues. Although cooperation between science and art seems easy, the obvious and enjoyable end result implies hard work by both scientists and artists. Dispensing with foreign words and industry specifics is impossible—the obvious ‘exterior’ or end result is based on serious and substantial scientific and artistic work. The result is worth it, since it invites people to think, participate and learn.
Alma Mater offers a few notable examples of the interaction between scientists and artists at the University of Latvia.
How can you not Love Goethe? The Multi-faceted Personality of Valdis Bisenieks
Valdis Bisenieks, German teacher, philologist, translator and poet, marks his 85th birthday by doing sports, writing poetry and translating. Experts say that his translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy is even ‘more Dante’ than the original and his rendering of Goethe’s Faust is better than that of Jānis Rainis, a genius Latvian poet, playwright and translator of the 19–20th centuries. Bisenieks is transforming Dante’s Divine Comedy into a writing of his own invention to preserve the peculiar intonations. Bisenieks’ multi-faceted personality is also revealed by his word-perfect poetry citations and stories of everyday barefooted runs in the summer.
From Buenos Aires to Riga
Born and raised in Argentina, Leonardo Pataccini studied at the University of Buenos Aires and University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Pataccini is an exchange researcher at the University of Latvia (UL) Faculty of Economics where he performs scientific work for his promotional paper and works as a lecturer. Pataccini first came to Latvia in 2010 thanks to a scholarship granted to him by the State Education Development Agency of Latvia. Pataccini returned to Latvia in 2013 to study the role of financial markets in the transition from the former centrally planned economies to market economies, with Latvia as an example. Pataccini considers Latvia as a very interesting place and believes that the Latvian people are similar to Argentinians; nevertheless, he finds some Latvian ways of socialising, such as picking wild mushrooms, very unusual.
Saint Four in Faculty of Theology
During their three-year studies at the Faculty of Theology, a mother, daughter and the husband of the second daughter were known as ‘the Holy Trinity’. Joined by another daughter in 2013, the family that gained their Bachelor’s Degrees at the same time continued to the Master’s Level programme at the Faculty of Theology.
The mother, Inta Jākobsone, is an assistant pastor, her daughter Krista Jākobsone is the Christian Bishop’s secretary, Ieva Jākobsone works at a debt collection company and Inta’s son-in-law Ainis Kaspars is also an assistant pastor.
The article speaks about the ties that unite the family, its values and why they have all chosen theology.
Thirteen Companies under One Roof
The second season of the Business Incubator of the University of Latvia (UL) began in 2013 with 13 new companies. Business Incubator is an economic and social development support programme. This year’s young businessmen are brimming with ideas such as underwear for couples, wooden cases for thermo cups, tours to Georgia, luminous balloons, a website for legal advice and lots more. All of the businessmen are students who are inspired and motivated to develop their ideas with the help of the UL Business Incubator within a year’s time.
Want to know what is beyond the sky!
Vjačeslavs Kaščejevs, Associate Professor at the University of Latvia, was presented with the prestigious young scientists’ award at the World Economic Forum. Kaščejevs compares physicists with theologians, since they both wish to explore and understand the world. He has as his mission to encourage and help other scientists systematise their thoughts and approaches, telling them about the path he took in the previously unknown part of science.
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