This lecture is devoted to beryllium, a strategically important, valuable, but highly toxic metal of exceptional significance both for understanding the processes of element formation in the Universe and for its application in modern technologies. In various forms, it is widely used in the automotive industry, astro- and aerospace technology, X-ray devices, robotics, in nuclear and thermonuclear facilities, and other areas. The speaker will provide a brief overview of some past, ongoing, and future experimental studies of nuclear reactions of beryllium-9 with neutrons, emphasising the need to obtain new, more reliable and robust nuclear data, including those from the TANGRA International Research Project. Such data are important for a better understanding of the mechanisms of nuclear reactions with neutrons and for their successful use in neutron-nuclear science and technology.