To mark Nepal’s National Science Day last month, world-renowned scientists, including Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Israeli Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman, visited Kathmandu to share their experiences with Nepali enthusiasts.

Buzz Aldrin stayed in Nepal for five days and attended an interactive talk programme at the Nepal Academy on 8 September. He also visited the Everest Science Centre Nepal in the east of the country to deliver a speech. According to local media, more than 5,000 people attended his presentation. Aldrin, now 86, made the historic first walk on the moon with Neil Armstrong in 1969.

Similarly, over 150 world scientists, including Dan Shechtman, attended the 13th International Conference on Quasicrystals (ICQ13), which was held in Dhulikhel of Kavrepalanchok from 18 to 23 September. Born in 1941 in Tel Aviv, Shechtman received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2011 for discovering quasicrystals.