Skoltech's comic book, "That's True!", was among the top three projects of the year for the fifth all-Russia "For Fidelity to Science" award
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Skoltech's science-educational project, "That's True!", is a baker's dozen of comic strips about scientists and science. It is the first collection of comics based on real scientific research by Russian scientists and, after its initial nomination, it received a 2nd Degree award for "Breakthrough of the Year" at the fifth all-Russia award "Za Vernost Nauke" (For Scientific Accuracy). The project is the result of a collaboration with the editors of the popular science magazine, "Schrödinger's Cat," and the publishing house "Eksmo." The award ceremony took place last Monday at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. Prior to this, an expert panel for the award selected eleven finalists from three hundred and fifty applications.
"Even when were just planning the collection, there was a lot of doubt because this format for popularizing scientific research is unusual both for a wide audience and for the expert community. We are very pleased with the result as we managed to convince the best scientists, science journalists, and illustrators to take part in the project; after the book's publication, we received many positive reviews from readers. What is most important is that children and teenagers like the project. The first edition sold out in just two weeks and an English version is being prepared. It is great that the award experts rated our work so highly," said Denis Stolyarov, project producer and head of Skoltech's student department.

In 2014, the Ministry of Science and Education of the Russian Federation established the all-Russia award, "Za Vernost Nauke," with the aim of encouraging popularizers, journalists, academics and business representatives, all of whom have made an important contribution to the development and publicizing of Russian science. In 2018, the partners of the award were the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Lomonosov Moscow State University. The charity organization, "Art, Science, and Sport Foundation," paid particularly close attention to the award as the promotion of scientific achievements is among its priorities.

The number of applicants for the fifth all-Russia award, "Za Vernost Nauke," exceeded three hundred and fifty, surpassing figures of previous years. The expert council for the award, which included leading scientists, consisted of representatives of the business and journalistic communities; they judged the nominees' works, thus covering all areas in the popularization of domestic science.

Eksmo published a joint creation of Skoltech and Schrödinger's Cat, the sci-comic book, "That's True," at the end of 2018 in an edition of 3,000 copies. The book features 13 picture stories, each based on a real piece of research that was or will be published in a leading scientific journal. The comic describes the work of the Skoltech scientists and their colleagues from leading Russian and foreign universities in a simple and funny way, focusing on the research areas that gain world attention.
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