Russian Academy of Sciences

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RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, the highest scientific institution in Russia. It was founded in St. Petersburg after Emperor Peter the Great's project for the academy was approved by the Senate on 28 January 1724. It was renamed as the Imperial Academy of Sciences and Arts under the charter of 1847, Imperial Academy of Sciences under the charter of 1803, Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences from 1803, Russian Academy of Sciences from May 1917 to 1925, Academy of Sciences of the USSR between 1925 and 1991, and again Russian Academy of Sciences since 1991. The Academy of Sciences was officially opened in St. Petersburg on 27 December 1725 and initially divided into three classes or departments: the first class included mathematics, astronomy, geography, and navigation, the second class - physics, anatomy, chemistry, and botany, and the third class - rhetoric, antiquities, history, and law. The staff comprised of 11 professors and several assistants. The Academy of Sciences had a library, Kunstkammer Museum, observatory, physics laboratory, chemical laboratory founded by M. V. Lomonosov in 1748, dissecting room, art classes, workshops, and Academic Printing House in the 18th century. Attached to the academy, the Academic University and Academic Gymnasium were established. The regulations of the academy were approved in 1747 with L. L. Blumentrost appointed the first President. Among the first members of the academy were mathematician J. Hermann, astronomer J. N. Delisle, and physiologist and mathematician D. Bernulli who came to Russia from Europe. Lomonosov became the first Russian member of the academy. The academy remained focused on physics, mathematics, and natural sciences in the mid-18th century, which were greatly developed by Lomonosov, Delisle, l. Euler, S. P. Krasheninnikov, I. I. Lepekhin, G. F. Miller, et al. Major contributions of that period included Russian research expeditions and the Atlas of Russia, a collection of astronomic and mathematics-based maps prepared by the academy. The academy published nonfiction, popular scientific literature, and belles-lettres and maintained close contact with foreign research centres. The role of the academy changed after a network of universities and scientific societies were established in the late 18th century and the early 19th century, becoming an organisation which was only engaged in research work. A new charter of 1803 determined its status as the leading scientific institution of the country, comprising of departments of physics and mathematics and a department of history and philology, the Academic University and Academic Gymnasium no longer ceased to exist. Under the charter of 1836, the academy's research work was closely connected with the needs of developing industry. A major contribution to the development of science was made by Count S. S. Uvarov, the Minister of Public Education and President of the Academy of Sciences, in the first half of the 19th century. Largely supported by the state, the academy was actively engaged in developing new schools. The structure of the academy reached its final form in 1841 to include a Department of Russian Language and Literature. Among the scientists working at the academy by the mid-19th century were mathematicians M. V. Ostogradsky and P. L. Chebyshev, physicists E. H. Lenz and B. S. Jacoby, chemists N. N. Zinin and A. M. Butlerov, astronomers V. Y. Struve and F. A. Bredikhin, biologists K. M. Ber and A. O. Kovalevsky, philologist A. H. Vostokov, literary scholar A. N. Veselovsky, and historian S. M. Solovyev with I. S. Turgenev, I. A. Goncharov, et al. receiving honorary membership. Many Russian scientists specialised in various fields took a prominent place in science in the mid-to-late 19th century. Botanist K. A. Timiryazev, physicist P. N. Lebedev, mathematicians A. N. Korkin and S. V. Kovalevskaya, et al. became famous world-wide. There were 47 members of the academy elected in 1856-90. A class of polite literature was established in 1899 with A. P. Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, and V. V. Stasov among the honorary members in this class. The academy was joined by a number of scientific institutions in the 19th century to the early 20th century such as the Asiatic Museum in 1818, Botanical Museum in 1823, Egyptian Museum in 1825, Zoological and Zootomical Museum in 1832, Ethnographic Museum in 1836, Main Astronomical Observatory in 1839, Physiological Laboratory in 1864, Plant Anatomy and Physiology Laboratory in 1889, Pushkin House in 1905, and Commission for the Study of Natural Productive Forces of Russia in 1915. The academy's Demidov Prize and Uvarov Prize were of great prestige among scientists. Among other prizes established by the academy in the second half of the 19th century were the Lomonosov Prize, Pushkin Prize, Ber Prize, Brandt Prize, Bunyakovsky Prize, Gelmersen Prize, Mitropolitan Makary Prize, and Count D. A. Tolstoy Prize. The academy took an active part in various international scientific societies. It joined the International Union of Academies in 1900 and held the union's convention in St. Petersburg in 1913. The union was disbanded after the beginning of World War I. After the October of 1917, a number of new institutes were established and attached to the academy including the Institute of Physics and Mathematics in 1921, Radium Institute in 1922, Chemical Institute in 1924, Physiological Institute in 1925,and Soil Institute in 1925. The academy took part in developing and implementing the Russian Electrification Plan known as GOELRO and studied natural resources in Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, Kola Peninsula, etc. A new charter was approved in 1927 based on the idea that scientists of the academy would be involved in practical research. Under the totalitarian regime, however, state and party authorities put more and more pressure on the academy, thus, negatively affecting the work of scientists and scientific institutions. The commission established by the Soviet of People's Commissars in 1927 attacked the academy heavily, especially its liberal departments. The academy held new membership elections under heavy pressure from the Soviet government and party authorities in 1929, which resulted in electing a number of the so-called Marxist scientists. The academy was then purged. The Joint State Political Directorate of People's Commissariat of Home Affairs fabricated a number of cases against workers and members of the academy with the Academic Case as the largest and most odious among them. Some members of the academy including S. A. Zhebelev and S. F. Platonov were persecuted in the press. Hundreds of academy workers were subject to repression. Although the Presidium and many institutes of the academy were transferred to Moscow in 1934, Leningrad continued developing as a major academic centre with a number of institutes such as Physics and Technical Institute, Botanical Institute, and Zoological Institute and scientific societies such as the Geographical Society, Mineralogical Society, and Botanical Society. Among full members of the academy working in Leningrad were physicists A. F. Ioffe and V. A. Fok, chemists S. V. Lebedev and V. G. Khlopin, biologists N. I. Vavilov, L. A. Orbeli, and A. A. Ukhtomsky, historian E. V. Tarle, orientalists I. A. Orbeli and V. V. Struve, et al. There were 33 academic institutions in Leningrad by the late 1940-early 1941 including the archives and library. They carried on their activities during the siege of 1941-44. The network of academic institutions grew steadily from the late 1940s with the Grebenshchikov Institute of Silicate Chemistry and Institute of High-Molecular Compounds founded soon after the war, Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry opened in 1956, Institute of Cytology opened in 1957, Institute of Nuclear Physics opened in Gatchina in 1971, Institute of Information Technology and Automation opened in 1978, Euler International Mathematical Institute and Institute of Applied Astronomy opened in 1988, and the Institute of the Human Brain was opened in 1990. The Interagency Coordination Council of the Academy of Sciences was established in Leningrad in 1979 to coordinate research work. The council was reorganised into the Leningrad Scientific Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1983 and renamed as St. Petersburg Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Following one after another, A. P. Komar, A. A. Lebedev, M. P. Kostenko, B. E. Bykhovsky, V. M. Tuchkevich, and I. A. Glebov were appointed the commissioner of the local presidium of the academy from 1940 to the 1980s. Member of the Academy Zh. I. Alferov was elected the president of Leningrad Scientific Centre (today, St. Petersburg Scientific Centre) of the Academy of Sciences in 1989. State support sharply reduced in the first half of the 1990s, the academy underwent a severe crisis but managed to continue developing with the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Man and the Laboratory Complex for Hydrogeology of Nature-Saving Mining Technologies added to St. Petersburg scientific institutions in 1994 and the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Geoecology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1996. The St. Petersburg Scientific Centre included over 70 institutions, organisations, and enterprises and 18 special departments of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2002. Initially, the academy was accommodated in P. P. Shafirov's house on Gorodskoy Island. In 1728, it moved to the Kunstkammer and the nearby Tsarina Praskovya Fedorovna's Palace on Vasilievsky Island where the Zoological Institute is situated today. A new building was erected for the academy by architect G. Quarenghi at 5 Universitetskaya Embankment in 1783-89, to become a monument of strict classicism and a link between the Spit of Vasilievsky Island and Universitetskaya Embankment. The building housed academic stores, a bookstore, and flats for its workers. The main facade of the three-storied rectangular building looks onto the Bolshaya Neva River. The ground floor is faced with granite. Lacking in decorative elements, the facade is enlivened with cornices and mouldings with a majestic eight-column Ionic portico in the centre. Impressive granite stairs lead to the main hall entrance on the second floor. The interiors of the conference hall were finished by sculptor K. Hoffert and artist F. Richter in the late 18th to early 19th century remained intact, as well as the interiors of the main staircase with M. V. Lomonosov's mosaic panel, Battle of Poltava, put at the stairhead in 1925. The academy's building includes a Museum Wing built by architects I. F. Luchini and D. E. Filippov at 1 Mendeleevskaya Line and 2 Tamozhenny Lane in 1826-31. The building now houses the St. Petersburg Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

References: Пекарский П. П. История Императорской Академии наук в Петербурге: В 2 т. СПб., 1870-1873; История Академии наук СССР. М.; Л., 1958-1964. Т. 1-2; Копелевич Ю. Х. Основание Петербургской академии наук. Л., 1977; Петербургская Академия наук в истории академий мира: Материалы Междунар. конф.: В 4 т. СПб., 1999; Хартанович М. Ф. Ученое сословие России: Имп. Академия наук второй четверти XIX в. СПб., 1999; Летопись Российской Академии наук. СПб., 2000-2002. Т. 1-2.

M. F. Khartanovich, V. G. Isachenko (architecture outline). Alferov Zhores Ivanovich
Ber Karl Maximovich
Bernully Daniil
Blumentrost Lavrenty Lavrentievich
Brandt Johann Friedrich (Fedor Fedorovich)
Bredikhin Fedor Alexandrovich
Bunyakovsky Viktor Yakovlevich
Butlerov Alexander Mikhailovich
Bykhovsky Boris Evseevich
Chebyshev Pafnuty Lvovich
Chekhov Anton Pavlovich
Delisle Josephe Nicolas (Osip Nikolaevich)
Euler Leonhard
Filippov Dionisy Evgenievich
Fok Vladimir Alexandrovich
Gelmersen Grigory Petrovich
Glebov Igor Alexeevich
Goncharov Ivan Alexandrovich
Grebenschikov Ilya Vasilievich
Hermann Jacob
Hoffert K.
Ioffe Abram Fedorovich
Jakoby Boris Semenovich (Moritz Herman)
Khlopin Vitaly Grigorievich
Komar A.P.
Korkin Alexander Nikolaevich
Kostenko Mikhail Polievktovich
Kovalevskaya Sofia Vasilievna
Kovalevsky Alexander Onufrievich
Krasheninnikov Stepan Petrovich
Lebedev Alexander Alexeevich
Lebedev Peter Nikolaevich
Lebedev Sergey Vasilievich
Lenz Emily Hristianovich
Lepekhin Ivan Ivanovich
Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilievich
Luchini Giovanni (Ivan Franzevich)
Makary, Metropolitan
Muller Gerard Friedrich
Orbeli Iosif Abgarovich
Orbeli Leon (Levon) Abgarovich
Ostrogradsky Mikhail Vasilievich
Peter I, Emperor
Platonov Sergey Fedorovich
Praskovya Fedorovna, Tsarina
Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich
Quarenghi Giacomo
Richter Friedrich
Sechenov Ivan Mikhailovich
Shafirov Peter Pavlovich, Baron
Solovyev Sergey Mikhailovich
Stasov Vladimir Vasilievich
Struve Vasily Vasilievich
Struve Vasily Yakovlevich
Tarle Evgeny Viktorovich
Timiryazev Klimenty Arkadievich
Tolstoy Dmitry Andreevich, Count
Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich, Count
Tuchkevich Vladimir Maximovich
Turgenev Ivan Sergeevich
Ukhtomsky Alexey Alexeevich
Uvarov Sergey Semenovich
Vavilov Nikolay Ivanovich
Veselovsky Alexander Nikolaevich
Vostokov Alexander Hristoforovich
Zhebelev Sergey Alexandrovich
Zinin Nikolay Nikolaevich
Senate
Russian Academy
Kunstkammer
Academic University
Academic Gymnasium
Academics' Case
Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Ioffe Physics-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Botanical Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Geographical Society
Mineralogical Society
Sechenov Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Cell Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of
St. Petersburg Scientific Centre of RAS
1724
1794
1934