KATHMANDU: While Nepal is all set to mark the National Science Day next month, the world’s renowned scientists including the Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and the Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman will be visiting Kathmandu to share their experiences with Nepali enthusiasts.

The scientists have confirmed their participation in two different events to be held in Nepal next month.

According to the official website of NASA scientist, Buzz will share his experiences of landing and walking on the moon.

“On Tuesday, September 6, Dr Buzz Aldrin and Dr Andrew Aldrin will give a presentation at Everest Science Centre in Nepal,” the website reads, “They will give another presentation at the Nepal Academy Hall, Kathmandu on Thursday, September 8.”

According to Everest Science Centre Nepal, Buzz will land in Kathmandu on September 4, with his son Andrew, his daughter-in-law Maurine Aldrin, Buzz Aldrin Inc's Mission Control Director Christina Korp, the Lockheed Martin Payload Manager Joseph Leblanc and the Orion Configuration Management Specialist Elizabeth Leblanc.

Astronaut Buzz will stay in Nepal for five days and he will attend the interactive talk programme at the Nepal Academy on September 8. Buzz will also visit the Everest Science Centre Nepal in the east to deliver his speech. “More than 5000 people are expected to attend this presentation at ESCN.”

The event entitled “An Intergalactic Encounter with Astronaut Buzz Aldrin in Nepal” will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all as the living legend shares his very first-hand accounts of the first successful human mission to the moon, according to Rugged Trails Nepal.

Buzz, now 86, has made the historic first walk on the moon with Neil Armstrong in 1969. He has also taken the first selfie in the space and returned to the earth safe.

Similarly, over 150 world scientists including the Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman are also arriving in Kathmandu in the second week of September.

The Nobel Laureate among 150 scientists from over 40 countries will be attending the 13th International Conference on Quasicrystals, slated to be held in Dhulikhel of Kavrepalanchok on September 18-23.

Dan Shechtman has already confirmed his participation, Dr Hem Raj Sharma, one of the conference chairs told THT Online.

Born on 24 January 1941 in Tel Aviv, Shechtman has received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2011 for discovering quasicrystals.

Invited speakers in the ICQ13 include A Goldman (USA); E Abe, N Takemori and T Dotera (Japan); S Ben-Abraham (Israel); E Gaudry, O Perez and A Jagannathan (France); W Steurer, and R Widmer (Switzerland); P Jana (India) and A Julien (Norway) among others, according to Sharma, who also works with the Surface Science Research Centre, University of Liverpool in UK.

The ICQ13 offers an opportunity for researchers working on quasicrystals and related topics to exchange ideas and encourage collaborations with other research groups, hence promoting material science and engineering, the official website of the ICQ13 reads.

The scientists will be presenting several abstracts on distinct themes such including formation, growth and phase stability; structure and modelling; mathematics of quasiperiodic and aperiodic structures; physical properties: transport, magnetic, dynamical, mechanical; surfaces and overlayers; applications and new frontiers; metamaterials: polymer, macro molecules, hotonic/phononic crystals, oxide.

Nepal annually marks the National Science Day on the first day of Asoj according to Nepali calendar, coinciding with the traditional Hindu festival of Bishwokarma Pooja. It will be marked on September 17 this year.