September 23, 2022 - In the birth house of Lavoslav Ružička, a Vukovar-born scientist and Nobel prize laureate, the Youth Peace Group Danube presented their project "raSTEM - Development of STEM in Vukovar". A Scientific Escape Room and a Technical-Robotics Cabinet were opened as its result.

As Glas Slavonije reports, the partners on this project were the European Home Vukovar, FERIT Osijek, the Nikola Tesla Technical School Vukovar, the City of Vukovar, the VURA Development Agency and the Vukovar Gymnasium.

"We also decorated the hall of Ružička's house, which will enable visitors to experience Lavoslav Ružička in the way we should value him, since he is a Nobel laureate born in Vukovar. The scientific escape room offers content related to chemical processes and chemistry in general, while the Technical-Robotics Cabinet is intended for the implementation of workshops, which means that we have equipped a space in the very centre of the city where young people will be able to enjoy STEM content through informal education", explained project manager Martina Uglik, adding that these are dedicated installations that will remain available to citizens even after the end of the project itself.

Ivanka Miličić, director of Hrvatski Dom (which manages Ružička's house), stated that they provided the space for the Youth Peace Group Danube, because the newly installed contents complement the existing ones, primarily the hologram of Lavoslav Ružička, which was installed so that the prominent scientist himself tells his life story.

"The goal was for his story to be presented in a way that children and young people can easily understand it. A photo exhibition about Ružička's life has also been set up, the new content is being followed up in the best way and what we have now is the result of the realisation of three smaller individual projects. Citizens who want to see the hologram should contact us, since Hrvatski Dom does not have a large number of employees, so we do not have a person who is solely responsible for the presentation of the contents of Ružička's house", said the director.

By presenting two new contents, Hrvatski dom and Youth Peace Group Danube participated in the organisation of Ružička Days, an international scientific and professional meeting held for the 19^th time in the city on the Danube.

"Young Chemists Conventions take place in Ružička's house. Our goal is to pass what we do on to the younger generations, and the Young Chemists Conventions occupy an increasingly important place in the scientific circles", emphasised Miličić.

All photos courtesy of Youth Peace Group Danube.

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Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided on Monday that the Croatian Ambassador in Sweden will not participate at the Literature Nobel Prize ceremony in protest against 2019 laureate Peter Handke, who is best-known in Croatia for backing late Serbian President Slobodan Milošević and his genocidal policies.

MVEP je odlučio o nesudjelovanju Veleposlanika RH u Kraljevini Švedskoj na sutrašnjoj ceremoniji dodjele Nobelove nagrade u Stockholmu zbog dodjele nagrade osobi politički angažiranoj u davanju potpore velikosrpskoj politici Slobodana Miloševića 90-ih godina prošloga stoljeća.

— MVEP/MFEA ?? (@MVEP_hr) December 9, 2019

Croatia thus joined a group of countries who have decided to boycott the event. The group, at the moment this article is being written, consists of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, Northern Macedonia, and Turkey.

In 2019, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Peter Handke, explained by the Academy that it was awarded “for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience”. The Swedish Academy’s choice of the Austrian writer for the award this year has been widely criticized, not because of his writing, but because of his support for Slobodan Milošević, former Serbian president who was instrumental in many wars in former Yugoslavia in the '90s. Handke has often spoken out in defense of Milošević, including stringent denials of concentration camps and war crimes in Bosnia, including Srebrenica. He was at Milošević's funeral in Belgrade as well, where he spoke kindly of the late tyrant - in Serbian! A defiant Handke refused to answer any questions regarding his support for Milošević during a news conference held on Friday in Stockholm.

Handke will be formally handed the 9 million crown ($935,000) award on Tuesday, before attending the traditional Nobel banquet later the same day. He will not be the only winner of the Literature Nobel Prize, as this year Poland's Olga Tokarczuk will also receive the award given to her for 2018 (which is also not without its own, completely different controversies). All ambassadors to Sweden are invited to the ceremony and the banquet.