Science and Scholarship

A substantial and rapidly growing scientific and technological potential has been created in the USSR. It comprises the aggregate of the material and nonmaterial resources that determine the scientific and technological level of social production under historically defined socioeconomic conditions.

Scientific and technological potential is a dynamic combination of objective possibilities and conditions, both realized and as yet unexploited, for the further growth of social production. The most important components of scientific and technological potential are scientific potential, engineering and design potential, educational potential, and the technological potential of production. Scientific potential and engineering and design potential may be regarded as a single potential called research potential. The development of scientific and technological potential is accompanied by an intensification of the interdependence and interpenetration of all the components.

Scientific and technological potential is characterized by a number of main parameters. One such parameter is a network of scientific research, experimental design, and engineering design organizations that deal with the development of basic and applied science and the use of science in technology. A second parameter is personnel, that is, scientists and specialists in all the links of the chain that extends from the development of scientific ideas to the large-scale introduction of the achievements of science and technology. A third is a system for the training and retraining of scientific and engineering personnel. A fourth is financial, material, and technical support for research and development.

Another parameter of scientific and technological potential is the development of a scientific, experimental, and production base and the provision of the base with scientific instruments, tools, equipment, and materials for carrying out research and development and for introducing the results in production. A sixth parameter is the organization and management of scientific research and technological development and a system for the practical implementation of the achievements of science and technology. A seventh is a system for providing information, publicizing the latest developments in science and technology, and popularizing scientific and technological achievements. A final parameter is participation in international cooperation and specialization in scientific research and technological development and the ability to use effectively the advantages of the international division of labor.

The development of a country’s scientific and technological potential and the rate and character of the quantitative and qualitative growth of such potential are determined by the socioeconomic nature of the state, the general and specific characteristics of the country, and the level of the country’s economic and cultural development. Under conditions of socialism, scientific and technological potential grows steadily and is used in accordance with a plan on the scale of society as a whole. The growth and use of such potential are based on a single scientific and technological policy as a component of the national socioeconomic policy. In the USSR, the growth of scientific and technological potential is a primary condition for socioeconomic progress, for the comprehensive development of all members of society, and for the fullest satisfaction of the material and cultural needs of all members of society.

In the USSR, the planning of the development of scientific and technological potential—like the planning of the whole system of scientific and technological research—is a component of the overall system of administration and management. Consciously placing science at the service of the building of communism, the CPSU has drawn up a purposeful program of scientific and technological progress, thus ensuring that the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution are combined with the advantages of the socialist economic system and providing for the harmonious, proportional evolution of both the components of the scientific and technological potential and science, technology, and other realms of society. In this case, one of the main advantages of a socialist society consists in the possibility of concentrating efforts on the solution of the most important problems.

The scientific and technological potential of the USSR is being formed and is evolving as an organic part of the socioeconomic transformations being carried out under the leadership of the Communist Party. The growth and development of the material and technical basis for communism, the cultural revolution that has led to the extensive development of education and to the training of skilled specialists for all sectors of the national economy, the increasing financial and material resources being channeled by the state into the development of science and technology, and the moral and material stimulation of scientific and technological progress have made it possible to ensure the development of a tremendous scientific and technological potential in a brief historical period. The present-day scientific and technological potential of the USSR makes it possible to conduct research in all problems of science and technology.

As of 1980, the number of scientific personnel in the USSR was 1.4 million. In 1980 the total number of industrial and nonindustrial workers in science and related service activities exceeded 4 million; the total number in public education and culture was 10.5 million. The number of graduate engineers employed in the national economy was 4.7 million. A total of 146.0 million persons had a complete or partial higher or secondary education, as compared with 58.7 million in 1959. Some 28.6 million specialists with a higher or secondary specialized education, including 12.1 million with a higher education and 16.5 million with a secondary education, were employed in the national economy. The number of such specialists in 1977 was 133 times greater than in prerevolutionary Russia.

In 1981, 83.3 percent of the total employed population had a complete or partial higher or secondary education. In 1939 the corresponding figure was 12.3 percent.

After the October Revolution of 1917, the number of scientific personnel increased at a rapid rate. In 1913 the number of such personnel was 11,600. By 1980 the number increased by a factor of almost 120. Between 1960 and 1980, both the total number of scientific personnel and the number of personnel holding the academic degree of candidate or doctor of sciences increased by a factor of 4 (see Table 1). The growth rate of the number of scientific personnel was more than twice as high as that of industrial and nonindustrial workers. In 1975 the number of scientific personnel in the USSR amounted to one-fourth of the total number of scientific personnel in the world.

While preserving the high growth rate of scientific and technological potential, the Communist Party attaches the greatest importance to measures associated with the qualitative aspect, that is, increasing the efficiency with which the scientific and technological potential is used, improving and perfecting the system for organizing and managing scientific research institutions, and introducing new technology in production.

The overall supervision of scientific and technological research in the Soviet Union is carried out by the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The special body responsible for scientific and technological progress is the State Committee of the USSR for Science and Technology. The highest scientific institution in the USSR is the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (see Table 2).

The development of the scientific and technological potential of the USSR has been directed toward the expansion of the scientific base not only in traditional cultural centers but also in new industrial and agricultural regions and in all the Union republics. An extensive and interconnected system of scientific institutions that meets the requirements of the development of Soviet society has been established in the Soviet Union. The characteristics of the system are its coverage of a wide range of fundamental problems and, at the same time, its orientation toward practical applications and the solution of present and future tasks in building communism.

Higher educational institutions and scientific organizations established under the auspices of such institutions play an important role in the development of scientific and technological potential. At the beginning of the 1977–78 academic year, there were 861 higher educational institutions in the USSR, which is eight times more than in prerevolutionary Russia. In the Soviet period, 14.1 million specialists with a higher education have been trained. In the USSR, three groups of higher educational institutions have been established: universities, polytechnic institutes, and specialized institutes. The educational and research system in higher schools is supervised by the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the USSR.

In addition to the training of specialists with a higher education, the system for training highly skilled scientific personnel is being expanded. Between 1961 and 1977, the number of graduate students increased by a factor of 2.6.

The scientific and technological potential of the USSR is financed by allocations from the state budget and by funds of enterprises and organizations. The allocations and funds are used for capital investment, current expenditures, organization and management, and personnel training. The development of the scientific and technological potential has been accompanied by a steady increase in allocations for science from the state budget and other sources. Such allocations amounted to 300 million rubles in 1940, 6.9 billion rubles in 1965, 11.7 billion rubles in 1970, 17.4 billion rubles in 1975, and 18.3 billion rubles in 1977.

Scientific research institutions, design institutes, and industrial design offices are an important component of the scientific and technological potential. Much of the applied research, as well as development and design work, is concentrated in such organizations. At the beginning of 1978, 44 percent of all scientific personnel were employed in specialized research institutes or in branches or divisions of research institutes operated by ministries or departments. In addition to scientists, a large number of design engineers, process engineers, and skilled workers are employed in such organizations. The technological potential of production also includes a large number of laboratories—for example, plant, factory, and shop laboratories—and design organizations funded by enterprises, as well as sections, offices, experimental sections, and mechanization and automation sections.

A trend toward stronger relationships between the various components of the scientific and technological potential is characteristic of the development of the potential. As the scientific and technological level of industrial production rises, labor becomes more intellectualized directly in the sphere of production. The increasing intellectualization of labor promotes the gradual disappearance of the substantial differences between mental and physical labor. A manifestation of this process is an increase in the number of inventors and production engineers who rely on the achievements of science and technology. In 1977, as compared with 1940, the number of inventions and rationalization proposals submitted increased from 591,000 to 5,097,000. The number adopted rose from 202,000 to 3,988,000. The annual savings increased from 90 million rubles to 5.296 billion rubles.

The relationship between science and production takes on a wide variety of forms at all stages of the process that begins with the conception of scientific ideas, proceeds through scientific experiments and engineering development, and results in the organized introduction of new technology and processes in production. The most important task under present-day conditions is to accelerate the process in every possible way.

Between 1971 and 1975, the lot production of 16,500 new types of industrial products was begun. In comparison, 8,400 new types of industrial products were first produced between 1966 and 1970. In 1976 and 1977, the production of about 7,000 such items was begun.

The output of the sectors that determine to the greatest extent both technological progress and the efficiency of the national economy—that is, the output of machine building, the electric power industry, the chemical industry, and the petrochemical industry—rose from 28 percent of the total industrial output in 1970 to 36 percent of the total output in 1977. The output of machine building increased by a factor of 2.1; this includes increases by a factor of 6.5 in computer equipment and by a factor of 2.3 in automation equipment and spare parts for such equipment.

Between 1966 and 1970, 414 automated control systems were set up, including 321 control systems for enterprises and technological processes. The corresponding figures for the period from 1971 to 1975 were 2,364 and 1,457; for 1976 and 1977, 703 and 483. Between 1965 and 1977, the number of completely mechanized or automated industrial enterprises rose from 1,900 to 5,900; the number of completely mechanized or automated sections, shops, and production units increased from 22,400 to 74,400. In the same period, the number of mechanized production lines increased from 42,900 to 125,800 and the number of transfer lines rose from 6,000 to 20,600.

The growth rate of the scientific and technological potential has outstripped that in every sphere of social production. This attests to the successful development of the scientific and technological revolution in the USSR.

A component of scientific and technological potential is a scientific and technical information service, which is organized as an integrated national system in the USSR. In 1975 the scientific and technical information network included ten all-Union research institutes, 86 specialized central agencies, and 93 regional information centers. More than 11,000 scientific and technical information agencies were operated directly by scientific research organizations, design organizations, enterprises, and other institutions. A total of 166,000 persons were employed in the scientific and technical information system.

The most important feature of Soviet science, a feature that continues the traditions of Russian science, is a close relationship with world science, the assimilation of the achievements of world science, and—at the same time—contributions to the development of world science. The rational utilization of international cooperation in science and technology and rising international cooperation are an essential condition for the growth of scientific and technological potential. International cooperation and its rational utilization are dictated by the increasing internationalization of science and by the fact that many problems have become global in nature. Such problems include the peaceful use of nuclear energy, space exploration, the development of the resources of the ocean, environmental protection, providing mankind with food and energy, and the control of certain diseases. The paramount importance of international scientific relations also consists in the fact that such relations exert an ever-increasing influence on political relations between states by promoting international security and creating an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding between peoples.

Cooperation in science and technology has become an important prerequisite for the development of the socialist countries. It constitutes the basis for the economic integration of the socialist countries and is a factor that cements the solidarity of the socialist community, strengthening the community’s international standing. The cooperation of the socialist countries provides the basis for the effective integration of the scientific and technological potentials of the member states of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) and for the intensification of the international division of labor and international cooperation both in basic and applied research and in the utilization of the resources of the socialist countries.

Positive changes in the international situation in the late 1960’s and in the 1970’s have made possible a substantial broadening of scientific and technical relations between the USSR and many capitalist countries and have qualitatively altered the forms and methods of such relations. Scientific and technological relations with the developed capitalist countries have been almost entirely shifted to a long-term basis in the framework of intergovernmental agreements that outline the main tasks and forms of economic, scientific, and technological relations. The conclusion of such agreements is evidence that realistically minded representatives of Western business, scientific, and political circles recognize both the outstanding achievements of the USSR in science and technology and the importance of developing scientific and technological cooperation.

To the utmost extent, cooperation between the USSR and the developing countries is directed toward the strengthening of the economic independence of such countries and the creation of their own scientific and technological potentials.

International organizations play an important role in the development of scientific and technological cooperation. The USSR is a member of approximately 600 political, economic, scientific and technical, cultural, and other international organizations. About 320 such organizations deal with the study and solution of problems in economics, science, and technology.

Soviet scientists and specialists participate in the scientific and technical programs of, for example, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The USSR also takes part in nongovernmental organizations, such as the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission. Problems of current interest are studied in the framework of organizations that deal with problems of the energy industry, for example, the World Energy Conference and the International Conference on Large High Tension Electric Systems. Soviet scientists and specialists have participated fruitfully in international organizations that deal with the solution of problems of current interest in theoretical and applied physics, chemistry, mechanics, biology, and other scientific disciplines.

The intensification of international scientific and technological cooperation and the wide variety of the forms of such cooperation are both a characteristic of the present-day scientific and technological revolution and an effective means for the development of the scientific and technological potential and the economic potential of every participating country.

The Comprehensive Program for Scientific and Technological Progress and Its Socioeconomic Consequences in 1976–90, which is the first such program to be drafted, is destined to play a most important role in the future development of the scientific and technological potential of the USSR. The accelerated development of science and technology and of the entire scientific and technological potential is outlined in the program. Such development will serve as the basis for resolving the problems of building communism in the USSR.

Before 1917. The Soviet Union is a country with long-standing scientific and scholarly traditions. The activity of many centers of learning, the first of which appeared in the Middle Ages on what is now the territory of the USSR, has been recorded in the history of world culture. Such centers included the observatory in Merv (ninth century), the House of Wisdom in Bukhara (tenth century), the House of Science in Khwarazm (11th century), Ulug Beg’s observatory (15th century) near Samarkand, the universities of Gladzor (13th-14th centuries) and of Tatev (14th-15th centuries) in Armenia, and the Ikalto Academy (11th century) and the Gelati Academy (12th century) in Georgia. The schools founded by Prince Vladimir in Kiev (tenth century) and by Iaro-slav the Wise in Novgorod (11th century) were major cultural centers.

Beginning in the early 16th century, groups of specialists—both Russian specialists and specialists invited from abroad—were formed in the state administrative bodies, or prikazy, of Russia. Knowledge in individual fields of learning was accumulated. For example, by the late 17th century, the Aptekarskii Prikaz (Pharmaceutical Department) had at its disposal a sizable staff with a variety of specialties and skills, including physicians, chemists, alchemists, and apprentices, as well as an extensive specialized library, which became part of the library of the Academy of Sciences in the 18th century. The Pharmaceutical Garden operated under the auspices of the Aptekarskii Prikaz, where the properties of herbs were studied, manuals and works on pharmacology and medicine were compiled, and physicians and apothecaries were trained.

In the Pushkarskii Prikaz (Office of Field Ordnance), cannoneers, metallurgists, gunpowder specialists, and other craftsmen mastered techniques of working with various alloys and explosives. The prikaz had at its disposal an extensive library on problems of, for example, fortification, hydraulics, and ballistics.

The appearance of strictly scientific institutions—that is, institutions devoted mainly to research and scientific education—is associated with the state reforms of the first quarter of the 18th century. The requirements of the state for the exploitation of natural resources, the development of economically necessary branches of applied science and technology, and the training of its own specialists compelled the government of Peter I to implement a system of important cultural and scientific measures.

On the initiative of the state, the first expeditions for the study of the country were undertaken. They included an expedition to the Caspian Sea (1720), an expedition to Siberia (1720–27), and the First Kamchatka Expedition (1725–30). The following institutions were founded in 1714: the St. Petersburg Pharmaceutical Garden (from 1823, the Imperial Botanical Garden), a scientific library (later the library of the Academy of Sciences; opened as a public library in 1728), and the Kunstkamera (opened in 1719). The Kunstkamera was the first museum of natural science in Russia.

The Academy of Sciences was founded in St. Petersburg in 1724 and was opened in December 1725. It was charged with the responsibility of developing scientific research and education and of organizing and carrying out the scientific and technical work required by the state. In the 18th century, all scientific and cultural activity in Russia was associated with the academy. The Academy University, which operated within the Academy of Sciences, trained the first Russian scientists. The geographic and natural-scientific study of Russia was centralized in the academy, which organized scientific cartographic projects, the Second Kamchatka (Great Northern) Expedition of 1733–43, and the academic expeditions of 1768–74 in European Russia, the Urals, and Siberia. New research institutions were formed under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences. The Kunstkamera became part of the academy. The Physics Office was established in 1725, an observatory was built in the 1730’s, and the geographic department was founded in 1739. In 1748 a chemistry laboratory was established on the initiative of M. V. Lomonosov. In addition, studios for making tools and instruments were set up; the studios tested inventions and designs.

In 1755, Moscow University was opened. The university soon became a major center of science and scholarship. The network of specialized higher schools was enlarged. In 1765 the Free Economic Society, the first Russian scientific society, was established. In 1783 the Russian Academy was founded to study and refine the Russian literary language. In the second half of the 18th century, scientific institutions were created in the Baltic region. They included an astrophysical observatory (1753), a botanical garden, and a zoological museum (the 1780’s) in Vil’na (now Vilnius) and an astronomical observatory in Mitava (now Jelgava).

In the first half of the 19th century, science was characterized by a tendency toward a deeper study of natural processes and phenomena and the determination of the intrinsic unity of such processes and phenomena. New mathematical, physical, chemical, biological, and other scientific disciplines arose. The need for an association of scientists increased. The process of establishing new scientific institutions, which was dictated by the development of Russia and of Russian science, was constantly inhibited by the serf system and by the inconsistent and contradictory attitude of the ruling circles toward scientific work.

The Academy of Sciences remained the leading scientific institution in Russia. The number of subdivisions of the academy was increased, and the museums established under the auspices of the academy grew in number. The latter included the Asian Museum, the Botanical Museum, the Zoological Museum, the Mineralogical Museum, the Museum of Ethnography, and the Museum of Numismatics. In 1841 the Russian Academy was incorporated into the Academy of Sciences as the division of Russian language and linguistics. The Main Astronomical Observatory was founded at Pulkovo in 1839, and the Main Physical Observatory was established in 1849 under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance.

The need for educated civil servants, physicians, agronomists, and other specialists—a need that became especially acute after the reform of the state administration and the establishment of ministries in 1802—led to an increase in the number of educational institutions. Lycées and universities were founded in Dorpat, Kazan, Kharkov, St. Petersburg, and Kiev. Educational institutions were established, including the Forestry Institute, the Communications Institute of the Corps of Engineers, and the St. Petersburg Institute of Practical Technology. In 1828 the work of the Chief Pedagogical Institute was resumed.

Beginning in the early 19th century, scientific-administrative subdivisions were organized under government departments. Such subdivisions included the Military Topographic Section of the General Staff or, later, of the Main Headquarters (1812; founded in 1797 as the Map Depot), the Scientific Committee of the Department of Mining (1834), and the Agricultural Scientific Committee of the Ministry of State Domains (1857). The subdivisions supervised the training of specialists and organized necessary scientific research on the departmental level.

Scientific and scholarly societies founded in large provincial cities, mainly in university cities, began to play an important role in the development of science and culture. The scientific and scholarly societies organized at Moscow University were prominent in scientific and scholastic activity in Moscow. They included the Moscow Society of History and Russian Antiquities (1804), the Society of Medical and Physical Sciences (1804), the Moscow Society of Naturalists (1805), and the Society of Lovers of the Russian Word (1811). The societies that were active in St. Petersburg included the Mineralogical Society (founded in 1817 at the Mining School), the Physicomedical Society (1805), and the Forestry Society (1834). Similar societies were established in the Baltic region, Byelorussia, and the Ukraine. They included the Riga Society of Natural Scientists (1805), the Dorpat Physicians’ Society (1811), the Vil’na Society of Medical Sciences (1805), the Byelorussian Free Economic Society (founded in Minsk in 1824), and the Society of Philologists and Technical Scientists (founded in Kharkov in 1811).

Initially, the main function of scientific societies was the association of scientists for the exchange of information. However, they gradually began to assume the functions of, for example, organizing research and publishing literature, thus becoming centers for scientific work.

By the middle of the 19th century, the number of institutions that carried out scientific research increased by nearly a factor of four in comparison with the late 18th century. A network of scientific institutions had been established that remained virtually unchanged until 1917. The network comprised the Academy of Sciences and its subdivisions, observatories, the scientific subdivisions of higher educational institutions, the scientific committees of government departments, and scientific societies.

In the second half of the 19th century, scientific activity developed under conditions of the rapid growth of capitalism. The increase in industrial and agricultural production after the abolition of serfdom in 1861 led to the establishment of new higher educational institutions, such as the Petrovskoe Farming and Forestry Academy in Moscow, the Riga Polytechnic Institute, the Moscow Higher Technical School, the Kharkov Technological Institute, and the St. Petersburg Electrical Engineering Institute. Scientific research became more and more concentrated in the higher schools. Scientific schools of thought were formed in the universities and the newly established specialized educational institutions. Several new scientific-administrative bodies under government departments were created, including the Statistical Committee of the Ministry of the Interior (1852), the Geological Committee (1882), and the Central Hydrographic Board of the Naval Administration (1885).

Scientific research was carried out under difficult conditions. Alarmed by the growth of the revolutionary movement, the tsarist regime did not hesitate to close or abolish universities or to ban scientific societies. The state research institutions were impoverished and few in number. New institutions grew extremely slowly, and old institutions virtually did not expand. For example, in the Academy of Sciences, only three small laboratories—a physiological laboratory, a specialized zoological laboratory, and a laboratory of plant anatomy and physiology—were opened in the late 19th century.

Between 1860 and 1900, approximately 100 scientific organizations were founded, mainly small weather stations, experimental fields, archives, and museums. Only three major scientific institutions were established: the Institute for Experimental Medicine (1890; existed mainly on private funds), the Institute of Experimental Veterinary Medicine (1898), and the Central Board of Weights and Measures (founded in 1893 on the initiative of D. I. Mendeleev). Later, in 1914, the Central Scientific and Technical Laboratory of the Military Department was founded to study problems of armament and war production.

A characteristic of the development of science in the second half of the 19th century was a close connection between scientific thought and progressive social thought; scientists strove to solve not only research problems but also economic and sociopolitical problems of importance to the country. Scientific societies became the most characteristic type of research organization. The following societies became major scientific centers: the Russian Geographical Society (1845); the Society of Lovers of Natural Science, Anthropology, and Ethnology (1864); the Moscow Mathematical Society (1867); the Russian Physical Chemistry Society (1878); and the St. Petersburg, Kazan, Tomsk, and Kharkov societies of natural scientists (founded in the late 1860’s). In the late 1860’s, the 1870’s, and the 1880’s, the first scientific and technical societies were formed; they included the Russian Technical Society (1866) and the Moscow, Riga, and St. Petersburg polytechnical societies.

Scientific congresses became a unique form of scientific organization. Between 1867 and 1913, 13 congresses of natural scientists and physicians took place. In the 1880’s and 1890’s, congresses were first organized by archaeologists, historians, and specialists in technology. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, scientific congresses, like scientific societies, played a major role in uniting and organizing scientific manpower and in popularizing scientific and technical knowledge.

In the 1900’s, commissions dealing with problems in specific areas were first established under the auspices of a number of scientific institutions, such as the Academy of Sciences and the scientific committees of government departments. They included the seismological, magnetic, and polar commissions of the Academy of Sciences and the Commission on Aluminum of the Geological Committee. Such commissions were the means by which scientific institutions adapted to the solution of new problems and were an attempt to coordinate scientific work that had been uncoordinated. The Commission for the Study of the Natural Productive Forces of Russia (1915) became the most important of such organizations. It dealt with the problems of organizing and carrying out investigations of natural resources, uniting scientists, and establishing scientific institutes.

On the eve of the October Revolution of 1917, there were about 300 scientific institutions in Russia, including committees, commissions, and higher educational institutions. Virtually all the scientific institutions were concentrated in Moscow, Petro-grad, and a few large cities in the western and central provinces. In the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East, there were only four higher educational institutions: a technological institute in Tomsk, the University of Tomsk (1888), the Eastern Institute in Vladivostok, and the University of Perm’ (1916). In addition, there were a few experimental agricultural and forestry fields and regional organizations.

Middle Asia lacked even a single higher educational institution. An observatory was founded in Tashkent in 1873. Weather stations were established in Tashkent, Ashkhabad, Krasnovodsk, and Kushka. Seismological stations were founded in Tashkent, Samarkand, and other cities. An entomological station was established in Tashkent, and several museums were opened. The Murgab Experimental Field and the Repetek Sand and Desert Station were set up in Turkmenia in 1912. In Tashkent, several regional and scientific societies were organized, including the Middle Asian Scientific Society and the Society of Natural Scientists and Physicians of Turkestan Krai.

In the Caucasus, there were no higher educational institutions and only a very few scientific institutions. The latter included the Caucasian Museum (1853; a museum of ethnography), the Tbilisi Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory, local branches of the Russian Geographical Society and the Geological Committee, and botanical gardens in Sukhumi, Tbilisi, and Batumi.

Scientific activity in the outlying areas was extremely limited. The few scientific circles and societies drew their members from an extremely narrow segment of the intelligentsia. A lack of coordinated research was a characteristic of the organization of science in the prerevolutionary period. In fact, scientific institutions in the central region and in the provinces operated without any contact or coordination.

After the Great October Socialist Revolution. The October Revolution of 1917 marked a new era in the development of science and scientific institutions. The establishment of the world’s first workers’ state, the profound social changes that occurred in Russia, and the beginning of the building of socialism resulted in the transformation of science into a powerful force for economic, social, and cultural change. Under the leadership of V. I. Lenin, the principles for a new, socialist organization of scientific activity were developed and the first steps in the national planning of scientific research were taken.

In Lenin’s The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government (1918), “Draft Plan of Scientific and Technical Work” (1918), “On Proletarian Culture” (1920), and “Integrated Economic Plan” (1921), the strategy for the development of Soviet science was defined, the need for purposeful planned management of science was indicated, and the leading role of science in the development of the national economy was emphasized. The Party program adopted by the Eighth Congress of the RCP(B) in 1919 was of great importance.

Under the very difficult conditions of the Civil War and Military Intervention of 1918–20, very important measures were implemented with respect to involving scientists in the construction of the economy and of culture and in the formulation and solution of urgent scientific and technical problems of importance to the state. In 1920, on Lenin’s instructions and under his leadership, scientists drew up a program—the GOELRO plan—for the reconstruction and development of the national economy on the basis of electrification. In addition, investigations were carried out with respect to the Kursk magnetic anomaly, the chemical resources of Kara-Bogaz-Gol and the Solikamsk region, the oil field near Ukhta, the bauxite deposits in the Tikhvin region, the combustible shales in the northwestern European part of Russia, water resources, clays, peats, and other natural resources. A scientific base was developed for the most important sectors of industry, and the higher schools were reorganized. The toiling masses gained access to education and scientific work. New centers of scientific education were opened.

The establishment of a system of national coordination and centralized supervision of research was of great importance for the development of Soviet science. In 1918 the Scientific Department of the People’s Commissariat for Education (from 1922, the Central Scientific Administration [Glavnauka]) and the Scientific and Technical Department of the Supreme Council on the National Economy were formed. The latter was given responsibility for organizing science in the service of industry and for coordinating applied scientific and technical work.

As the state sector in various branches of the national economy grew and research activity expanded, scientific-administrative subdivisions were formed under the people’s commissariats and other government departments. They included the Scientific Commission of the Scientific and Technical Department of the Supreme Council on the National Economy, the Scientific Medical Council of the People’s Commissariat for Public Health, and the State Academic Council of the People’s Commissariat for Education. The State Planning Commission (1921) and the Special Provisional Committee on Science of the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR (1922–24) became important centers for the planning and coordination of scientific work on the nationwide level. The activity of the State Planning Commission and the Special Provisional Committee on Science helped direct development toward an integrated scientific and technological policy and provided for the formation of a national network of scientific research institutions in accordance with a plan.

New scientific research centers and a system of major scientific research institutes were established. By the mid-1920’s, despite the Civil War and the difficulties of the reconstruction period, more than 70 institutes that played a prominent role in the development of Soviet science were founded. They include the State Optics Institute (1918; founded by D. S. Rozhdestvenskii), the Central Aerodynamic and Hydrodynamic Institute (1918; a founder and the first director, N. E. Zhukovskii), the State Hydrological Institute (1919), the Institute of Biophysics (1919; founded under the supervision of P. P. Lazarev), the Institute of Biochemistry (1920; founded under the supervision of A. N. Bakh), the Institute for the Study of the North (1920), the Floating Marine Institute (1921; initiated marine research expeditions), the Petrograd Physicotechnical Institute (1921; founder and first director, A. F. Ioffe), and the State Radium Institute (1922; founded under the supervision of V. I. Vernadskii). Such scientific institutions were oriented toward the solution of basic scientific and economic problems.

In the first years after the revolution, the foundations were laid for a network of specialized scientific institutions; specialized complexes of scientific research institutes for industry, transportation, communications, agriculture, public health, and other fields were first formed. The nucleus of the main institutes of Soviet industry was established with the foundation of, for example, the L. Ia. Karpov Chemical Institute (1918; initially the Chemistry Laboratory of the Scientific and Technical Department of the Supreme Council on the National Economy), the Scientific Automotive Institute (1918), the State Institute of Applied Chemistry (1919), the Scientific Institute for Fertilizers (1919), the Institute of Applied Mineralogy and Metallurgy (1919), the Institute for the Mechanical Processing of Minerals (1920), the State Experimental Electrical Engineering Institute (1921; later the V. I. Lenin All-Union Electrical Engineering Institute), the State Heat Engineering Institute (1921), the State Peat Institute (1921), and the Nizhny Novgorod Radio Laboratory (1918). In 1925 there were about 30 institutes and large specialized laboratories in industry.

In 1918 the formation of a network of scientific institutions under the People’s Commissariat for Public Health was begun. In 1920 the institutes were consolidated into a single system called the State Institute of Public Health. In 1925 the State Institute of Public Health included eight large institutes.

The creation of a system of scientific support for agriculture was begun in the early 1920’s. The Central Selection and Genetics Station was established in 1920 outside Petrograd. The State Grasslands Institute and the Institute of Scientific Land Reclamation were founded in 1921. In 1922 the Institute of Experimental Agronomy was established. In 1924 the Institute of Applied Botany and New Crops was detached from the Institute of Experimental Agronomy.

In the early 1920’s, scientific research institutes under the jurisdiction of higher educational institutions were first created. The work of such institutes was closely associated with the educational process and, at the same time, with the implementation of the research programs of government departments and enterprises. These institutes played an important role in the development of Soviet scientific personnel.

The October Revolution brought about fundamental changes in the organization of research in the humanities. In the first years of Soviet power, major centers of Marxist social science were established. The centers focused their attention on the study of productive forces, class problems, and the class struggle.

In 1918 the Socialist Academy of Social Sciences was founded; in 1924 it was renamed the Communist Academy. In the first half of the 1920’s, institutes and scholarly societies were formed under the auspices of the academy. The institutes and societies studied problems of, for example, philosophy, law, economics, and Soviet construction, as well as the history of the international working-class movement and the history of the October Revolution.

The Russian Academy of the History of Material Culture, where studies in archaeology and ethnography were centralized, was opened in 1919. The Marx-Engels Institute (1921), the Commission on the History of the October Revolution and the RCP(B) (Istpart; 1920), and the V. I. Lenin Institute (1923) were founded by resolutions of the Central Committee of the RCP(B). The V. I. Lenin Institute was established on the initiative of Moscow Communists.

The activity of old scientific institutions, especially the Academy of Sciences, was broadened considerably. Between 1918 and 1925, the number of scientific subdivisions in the Academy of Sciences virtually doubled. Within the academy, scientific research institutes were created, including the Institute of Platinum (1918), the Institute of Physicochemical Analysis (1918; first headed by N. S. Kurnakov), the Physicomathematical Institute (1921; first headed by V. A. Steklov), the Chemical Institute (1924), the Institute of Physiology (1925; first headed by I. P. Pavlov), and the V. V. Dokuchaev Soil Institute (1927). The academy carried out much theoretical, expeditionary, and organizational work and was in charge of the study of the country’s natural resources. The Academy of Sciences was recognized as the highest scientific institution in the Soviet Union. On July 27, 1925, it was renamed the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

The creation of scientific and educational centers in such regions as Transcaucasia, Middle Asia, the Urals, and Siberia was an important trend in the formation of a national network of scientific institutions. In 1918 universities were opened in Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, Tbilisi, and Irkutsk. Between 1919 and 1921, a number of universities were founded, including the University of Baku (1919; since 1924 the University of Azerbaijan), the University of Yerevan (1920), the Urals University (1920; from 1925 to 1931, a polytechnic institute), the University of Turkestan (1920; from 1923 the Middle Asian University, since 1960 the University of Tashkent), the Far East University (1920), and the Byelorussian University (1921). The establishment of new universities played an important role in the training of local intelligentsias and in the development of science and culture.

The Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR was founded in 1919.

After the formation of the USSR in 1922, the organization of science in the provinces assumed a much broader scope. The study of the natural resources, economies, ethnography, and cultures of the Union republics was greatly expanded. Aided by the scientific institutions of the RSFSR—the Academy of Sciences, universities, and new institutes—and supported by local universities, the other Union republics began to train their own national scientific and technical personnel and to form their first scientific research institutions.

In the first half of the 1920’s, various institutions were founded in outlying areas. They included the Tbilisi Bacteriological Institute and several scientific societies in Georgia, the Lake Sevan Hydrobiology Station (1923) in Armenia, the Society for the Exploration and Study of Azerbaijan (1923; later an institute), the Society for the Study of Local Lore of the People’s Commissariat for Education of Turkmenistan (1925), the Scientific Society of Tadzhikistan (1925), the Institute of Byelorussian Culture (1922), and a scientific committee in Moldavia (1926).

The Siberian Geological Committee (1918), the Siberian Commission of GOELRO (1921), and the Siberian Agricultural Academy (1923) played an important role in the organization of scientific work in Siberia. The Urals Scientific Research Institute was founded in 1925 to study the most important economic problems of the Urals.

In the mid-1920’s, there were more than 600 scientific institutions, that is, twice as many as in the prerevolutionary period.

The evolution of science and scientific institutions in the second half of the 1920’s and in the 1930’s was closely associated with the development of socialist construction. In 1927 the Fifteenth Congress of the ACP(B) outlined the path to the creation of the material and technical basis for socialism. The congress stressed the importance of the industrialization of the USSR and set forth as a separate task “the broad development of the network of scientific research institutes and factory and plant laboratories and resolutely narrowing the gap between academic scientific work and industry and agriculture” (KPSS v rezoliutsiiakh, vol. 4, 1970, p. 47).

The transformation of the USSR into a mighty industrial power and the scope of the cultural revolution led to a rapid increase in the number of scientific research institutions. During the prewar five-year plans (1929–40), the Soviet national intelligentsia, which includes Soviet scientists, was formed and grew. In 1928, on the initiative of a group of scientists, the All-Union Association of Scientific and Technical Workers for Active Participation in Socialist Construction in the USSR (VARNITSO) was established. VARNITSO played a prominent role in uniting the advanced scientific and technical intelligentsia.

In 1931 the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute of the Central Committee of the ACP(B) (since 1956 the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the Central Committee of the CPSU) was founded on the basis of the Marx-Engels Institute and the V. I. Lenin Institute. The network of institutions within the Communist Academy was reorganized. In 1929 institutes of philosophy and of history were opened under the auspices of the Communist Academy. In 1931 institutes of, for example, literature, art, and languages were founded within the academy.

A transition from highly specialized research to the comprehensive solution of the most important theoretical and practical problems was a characteristic of Soviet science in the prewar period. The Communist Party and the Soviet government regarded the systematic growth of the network of research institutes in all fields of science and technology as a top-priority task in the development of science. The system of institutions carrying out basic research was expanded considerably, and such research became more and more centralized in the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. By the beginning of 1941, the Academy of Sciences encompassed 167 scientific institutions, that is, 78 institutes and 89 associations. They included the Geological Institute (1930), the Institute of Physical Chemistry (1931), the P. N. Lebedev Institute of Physics (1934; first director, S. I. Vavilov), the Institute of Organic Chemistry (1934; founded by A. E. Favorskii and N. D. Zelinskii), the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry (1934; first director, N. S. Kurnakov), the Institute for Physical Problems (1934; first director, P. L. Kapitsa), and the Institute of Theoretical Geophysics (1938; first director, O. Iu. Shmidt).

Institutions that studied fundamental problems of technology were founded within the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. They included the Institute of Power Engineering (1930; first director, G. M. Krzhizhanovskii), the Institute of Automation and Telemechanics (1939), and the Institute of Machine Science (1938).

In 1936 the institutions of the Communist Academy were placed under the jurisdiction of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Institutes of, for example, history, the state construction of the USSR, and economics were established within the Academy of Sciences.

In the first half of the 1930’s, more than 20 percent of the scientific institutions in the USSR dealt with industry, transportation, and communications. Various institutions devoted to these spheres had been founded, such as the Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building and Metalworking (1926; later the Central Scientific Research Institute of Transportation Machine Building), the State Institute for the Design of Metallurgical Plants (Gipromez, 1926), the State Institute for the Design of Nonferrous Metallurgical Enterprises (Giprotsvetmet, 1929), the Central Institute of Transportation Construction of the People’s Commissariat of Railroad Transportation (1930), and the All-Union Institute for the Mechanization of Agriculture (1930).

A number of major institutes for the chemical industry were established. They included the Institute of Solid-fuel Chemistry (1929), the Institute of Petroleum (1929), the Institute of High Pressures (1930), the Institute of Plastics Chemistry (1932), and the central institutes of the Groznyi and Emba oil trusts. The Jet Scientific Research Institute, the first such institute in the USSR, was founded in 1933.

In the second half of the 1930’s, the work of scientific research institutes in aircraft engine construction, tractor building, motor vehicle transport, and water transport was expanded. Scientific research institutions were established in every branch of the infant Soviet industry.

Many scientific and research organizations, such as the Dneprostroi construction organization and the Central Aerodynamic and Hydrodynamic Institute, took part in designing the V. I. Lenin Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant (Dneproges). The Magnitogorsk, Novolipetsk, and Novotagil metallurgical combines were built according to the designs of Gipromez, as were the Uralmash, Rostsel’mash, and other plants. Giprotsvetmet designed the Krasnoural’sk and Balkhash copper-smelting works, the Chimkent Lead Works, and the Cheliabinsk Zinc Works. The Institute of Solid-fuel Chemistry, the All-Ukrainian Institute of Chemistry, and other scientific institutions studied the coals of, for example, the Donets Coal Basin, the Kuznetsk Coal Basin, and the Urals; in particular, problems associated with the creation of the Urals-Kuznetsk Combine and other enterprises were solved.

The first major construction projects in heavy industry and in power engineering in the USSR became a school for the scientific and technical intelligentsia of the country. Large scientific collectives of metallurgists, mechanical engineers, hydroelectric power engineers, and other specialists were formed in the process of practical work.

In the second half of the 1920’s, agricultural research institutions were rapidly formed. In 1929 the V. I. Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VASKhNIL) was founded. In 1930 the academy included 11 new scientific institutes, such as the All-Union Institute of Horticulture, the Institute of Agricultural Economics, the Institute of Agricultural Economics, the Institute of Livestock Breeding, the Institute of Land Reclamation, and two fishing industry institutes. The establishment of VASKhNIL and its network of institutions was a part of the measures implemented by the party and the government in the socialist reconstruction of agriculture.

The Academy of Housing and Municipal Economy of the RSFSR was founded in 1931. The Academy of Architecture of the USSR was established in 1934.

The development of a scientific research base for public health was continued. In 1932 the All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine was founded. In the late 1930’s, there were about 300 scientific medical institutions.

Scientific institutions gave much attention to the strengthening of the defense capability of the USSR, the improvement of the technical means and equipment available to the Red Army, and the enhancement of the army’s fighting power. In the 1920’s and the 1930’s, design offices were set up in the defense sectors of industry. The design offices dealt with the development and introduction into production of airplanes, tanks, field ordnance, and small arms.

In the 1930’s, an important step was taken toward the complete coverage of the most essential fields of science and technology and the extension of the network of scientific research institutions throughout the USSR. Large research centers were established in the new industrial regions of the RSFSR and in the other Union republics. The development of the Northeast and the creation of a new, potent base for power and raw materials beyond the Urals—a base that included Magnitogorsk, the Kuznetsk Coal Basin, and Karaganda—led to the advance of science across the Urals and into Siberia, Kazakhstan, and the Far East. In the early 1930’s, there were more than 20 scientific research institutions, mainly in industry, in the Urals.

The expansion of the work of branches and bases of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in the Urals and the Far East was of great importance. The academy’s branches and bases were in charge of the study of both the productive forces of the Urals and the Far East and the histories and cultures of the peoples inhabiting the two regions.

The institutions of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR that were founded in the 1930’s in Transcaucasia and Middle Asia played a prominent role in the organization of the study of local natural resources and in the training of national scientific personnel.

The Academy of Sciences of the Byelorussian SSR was founded in 1929.

New universities were established in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Karelia. The network of specialized higher educational institutions was expanded, and research organizations were rapidly set up.

In 1940, the number of scientific personnel outside the RSFSR amounted to 19,300 in the Ukraine, 2,200 in Byelorussia, 6,500 in Transcaucasia, and 5,900 in Kazakhstan and the republics of Middle Asia. In the prewar period, approximately one-third of all the scientific research institutions in sectors of industry and up to 40 percent of the institutions engaged in basic research—mainly local subdivisions of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR—were outside the RSFSR. By the beginning of 1941, the total number of such institutions was about 40.

In the second half of the 1920’s and in the 1930’s, the administration of specialized scientific institutions in the USSR was centralized in the corresponding people’s commissariats or departments. The rapid growth of the network of scientific research institutions and the increasing specialization of the institutions with respect to both area of study and function made the coordination of scientific activity a major problem. On the recommendation of the Soviet government, scientific research on the national level was planned at all-Union conferences or congresses dealing with sectors of industry or with comprehensive problems. The State Planning Commission, the Committee for the Management of Academic and Educational Institutions of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (the Academic Council of the Central Executive Committee; 1926–36), the Department of Scientific Institutions (1928–29), and the Commission for Assisting Scientists (1931) of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR were national centers that coordinated research and directed the work of the largest all-Union institutions. The Committee for Affairs of Higher Schools also carried out coordination functions.

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45, all the forces of Soviet science were directed toward ensuring victory over the enemy. Despite the fact that the war inflicted considerable damage on the scientific potential of the USSR (more than 600 scientific institutions, including the Pulkovo and Simeiz observatories, were destroyed), the development of Soviet science continued. The new research centers that had been established in the eastern regions before the war served as the base for the work of the scientific institutions—for example, academic institutes, universities, and major industrial institutes—that were evacuated from the western and central oblasts. Important research on the improvement of defense technology and the exploitation of natural resources, as well as prospective theoretical research, was carried out at the new scientific centers in the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, and Middle Asia.

The need for the expeditious resolution of many problems gave rise to specific forms in the organization of science, that is, to the creation of study groups and advisory groups of scientists. Such groups worked directly in the field on the instructions of the State Defense Committee, the General Staff, the staffs of fronts or fleets, people’s commissariats, government departments, or individual enterprises.

Expeditions for the study of natural resources were productive. Problems in the organization of research were resolved by the Scientific and Technical Council under the State Defense Committee’s commissioner for science. The network of scientific research institutes and laboratories was expanded.

Between 1941 and 1945, 240 new scientific institutions were founded. The institutions established under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR included the Pacific Ocean Institute (1942), the Institute of Crystallography (1943), a volcanology laboratory, and a helminthology laboratory. The Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR was founded in 1944; the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the RSFSR, in 1943.

Intensive work on important economic and theoretical problems fostered the further development of scientific research activity in outlying areas. During the war, academies of sciences were founded in Georgia (1941), Armenia (1943), Uzbekistan (1943), and Azerbaijan (1945). The network of scientific institutions in Siberia was expanded; by the end of the war, there were 15 higher educational institutions and 19 scientific research institutes in Siberia. Scientific institutions of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR were established in a number of regions. The Western Siberian and Kirghiz branches of the academy were founded in 1943, the Kazan Branch was created in 1945, and the academy’s scientific research base in the Komi ASSR was organized in 1944.

In the postwar period, Soviet science was confronted with tasks associated with, for example, the speedy reconstruction of the national economy, the development of the scientific and technological revolution, the mastering of nuclear energy, the development of computers, the complete mechanization and automation of production, problems in electronics, rocketry and space technology, and the production of materials with desired properties. The Communist Party and the Soviet government steered a course toward the intensified acceleration of scientific and technological progress.

A number of measures were implemented with respect to the development of a mechanism for the planning and coordination of scientific research. In 1947 the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the Introduction of New Technology Into the National Economy (Gostekhnika SSSR) was established. The committee existed until 1951 and was reestablished in 1955 as the State Committee on New Technology of the Council of Ministers of the USSR; in 1957 it was reorganized as the State Scientific and Technical Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The committee was in charge of work on the use of scientific and technological achievements in the national economy and work on the organization of the most important scientific and technical research, both specialized and interbranch.

Scientific work was centralized in several large systems: the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and its network of central institutes, branches, and other institutions; the academies of sciences of the Union republics; the specialized academies and research institutes of ministries and departments; and the scientific subdivisions of higher schools.

In 1946 the Academy of Social Sciences of the Central Committee of the CPSU was founded. By the late 1940’s, branches of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the Central Committee of the CPSU had been set up in 14 Union republics and in the cities of Moscow and Leningrad.

The network of institutions under the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was expanded considerably. In the second half of the 1940’s and in the 1950’s, more than 30 new institutes were established within the academy. They included the Institute of Physical Chemistry (1945), the V. I. Vernadskii Institute of Geochemistry and Analytic Chemistry (1947), the Institute of Macro-molecular Compounds (1948), the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology (1948), the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity (1950), the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics (1953), the Institute of Scientific Information (1952; since 1955 the All-Union Institute of Scientific and Technical Information), and the Institute of Evolutionary Physiology (1956), as well as the Institute of Linguistics (1950), the Institute of Slavic Studies (1946; later the Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies), and the Africa Institute (1959). New institutions of the academy were set up in outlying regions, for example, the Moldavian and Bashkir branches, scientific research bases in Dagestan and Yakutia (later branches of the academy), and a scientific research base on Sakhalin.

The Siberian Division of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was founded in 1957. Incorporated into the Siberian Division were the Far Eastern Branch, the Western Siberian Branch, and the Eastern Siberian Branch (established 1949) of the Academy of Sciences, as well as the academy’s Sakhalin Integrated Scientific Research Institute and its Institute of Physics in Krasnoiarsk. In the late 1950’s, the Siberian Division included 16 large institutes.

The raising of the economic and cultural level in the various Union republics fostered the development of science, the expansion of scientific research institutions, and an increase in the number of scientific personnel. The following new universities were founded: the University of Kishinev (1945), the University of Uzhgorod (1945), Tadzhik University (1948), Turkmen University (1950), Kirghiz University (1951), the University of Yakutsk (1956), Bashkir University (1957), the University of Dagestan (1957), Kabarda-Balkar University (1957), Mordovian University (1957), and the University of Novosibirsk (1959).

Academies of sciences were established in Kazakhstan (1946), Latvia (1946), Estonia (1946), Turkmenistan (1951), Tadzhiki-stan (1951), Kirghizia (1954), and Moldavia (1961). Work was resumed at the Academy of Sciences of Lithuania, which had been founded in 1941. The scope of the research carried out at the Union-republic academies of sciences was broadened, and the academies’ share of national scientific work was increased. In the early stage of the work of the Union-republic academies, attention was given mainly to regional problems. However, in the second half of the 1950’s, the academies began to study theoretical problems in modern natural science and social science. For example, academic institutes of nuclear physics were established in the Uzbek SSR and the Kazakh SSR, and an institute of astrophysics was founded in the Turkmen SSR. Computer centers were organized in the republics.

The development of scientific work at the specialized academies of sciences was rapid. The network of institutions under the specialized academies were expanded.

In the mid-1950’s, more than 30 research institutions dealt with the development of construction methods. In 1956 the Academy of Construction and Architecture of the USSR was founded on the basis of the Academy of Architecture. The new academy, which operated until 1964, incorporated a number of specialized institutes as well as several integrated research institutes in various cities. The specialized institutes included institutes of rural construction, underground and mine construction, and sanitary engineering.

Research activity at the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR was accelerated. In 1957 the academy included 28 scientific institutions.

The role of the V. I. Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VASKhNIL) was enlarged, and the amount of work carried out at the academy was increased. In 1956 more than 1,000 institutes, experiment stations, and laboratories studied problems of agronomy, zootechny, agricultural machine building, and agricultural economics. The growth in the role of agricultural science resulted in the establishment of Union-republic agricultural academies. In 1956 an agricultural academy was founded in the Ukraine. In 1957, on the basis of local institutions of VASKhNIL, agricultural academies were established in Byelorussia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

In 1955 the management of the scientific and technical societies of the USSR was assigned to the trade unions of the USSR. The societies became mass organizations that promote the broad dissemination of scientific knowledge.

As the USSR entered the period of developed socialism, the role of science grew to an extraordinary degree. Science was transformed into a direct productive force in society and became a powerful means for both the creation of the material and technical basis for communism and the formation of communist ideology and culture. The growing creative role of science in all aspects of life in the USSR was clearly reflected in the party program adopted by the CPSU in 1961 and in resolutions of party congresses. The CPSU posed a task of great historical importance by calling on scientists and the entire Soviet people “to combine organically the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution and the advantages of the socialist economic system” (Materialy XXIVs”ezda KPSS, 1971, p. 57).

In the 1960’s and the early 1970’s, a number of special decrees were issued by the party and the government. They included the following: On Measures for the Development of the Social Sciences and the Enlargement of Their Role in Communist Construction (issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1967), On Measures for Improving the Activity of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Academies of Sciences of the Union Republics (issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR in 1963), On Measures for Raising the Efficiency of the Work of Scientific Organizations and for Accelerating the Use of Scientific and Technological Achievements in the National Economy (issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR in 1968), On the Development of Scientific Institutions in Individual Economic Regions of the RSFSR (issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR in 1969), and On the 250th Anniversary of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (issued by the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1973).

A number of measures were implemented for the purpose of accelerating the growth of scientific research and development work, design work, and invention. The system for managing research and development was improved.

In 1965 the State Committee for Science and Technology of the Council of Ministers of the USSR became the national body responsible for scientific and technological progress and for the implementation of an integrated scientific policy. It was put in charge of defining guidelines in the development of science and technology, planning and organizing the study of the most important scientific and technological problems of national significance, and organizing the introduction of discoveries, inventions, and research results into production. The committee helps compile plans for the financing of scientific research and development work and helps develop the material basis for science. Scientific councils that deal with the most important integrated and inter-branch scientific and technological problems operate under the auspices of the State Committee for Science and Technology. The councils coordinate all the respective scientific research and development work.

The Academy of Sciences of the USSR is in charge of organizing research in the main fields of the natural and social sciences. While the Academy of Sciences focuses its attention on basic research, it also takes part in the study of a wide range of scientific and technological problems of current interest for the national economy. The academy plays an important role in current and long-term planning and in forecasting scientific development. More than 200 councils that deal with individual scientific problems or trends in scientific development operate under the auspices of the academy’s presidium, sections, or divisions.

New institutes have been founded within the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. They include the Institute of Chemistry (Gorky, 1969), the Institute of Experimental Mineralogy (1969), the Institute of Nuclear Research (1970), the Limnology Institute (Leningrad, 1971), the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences (1969), the Institute of Psychology (1971), and the Institute of Socioeconomic Research (Leningrad, 1974).

Problem-oriented groups of scientific research institutes and other institutions of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR have been set up in the Moscow region. In Pushchino, a biology center was established for the study of problems of, for example, proteins, photosynthesis, biophysics, biochemistry, and soil science. In Krasnaia Pakhra, a physics center was organized to deal with such fields as geomagnetism, spectroscopy, and high-pressure physics. In Noginsk, a center for chemicophysical research was founded for the investigation of, for example, chemical kinetics and the chemistry of phosphorus-containing compounds.

In 1975 the Academy of Sciences of the USSR included about 250 scientific institutions. The academy maintains a research fleet of its own.

The Siberian Division of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR has evolved into a major base for scientific development. In 1975 it encompassed about 50 scientific research institutions, more than 70 scientific stations, and an experiment plant. Dozens of specialized scientific research institutes and ministerial or departmental organizations in Siberia are managed by the division.

A considerable amount of basic research is done by the branches of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. The academy’s Urals and Far East scientific centers were founded on the basis of the corresponding branches. In 1975 there were nine branches of the Academy of Sciences, including three branches within the Siberian Division.

The scientific research institutes and other scientific institutions of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR direct their efforts toward the solution of the most important problems in the development of science, the economy, and culture; they seek new ways of transforming the productive forces of the USSR. In accordance with a commission from the Central Committee of the CPSU and the government, the academy’s institutes, together with ministries and departments, have drafted the Comprehensive Program for Scientific and Technological Progress and Its Socioeconomic Consequences in 1976–90. The program, an organic part of current and long-term planning, is intended to provide guidelines for the management of the Soviet economy.

Large numbers of Soviet scientists are on the staffs of the academies of sciences of the Union republics. In 1975 the 14 Union-republic academies included about 400 scientific institutions. Many of the scientific research institutes of the Union-republic academies occupy leading positions in the respective fields of science and are the main organizations in the USSR for the study of specific scientific problems and trends in scientific and technological development.

The network of institutions that directly provide scientific support for various sectors of industry, agriculture, transportation and communications, and medicine has been expanded. More than 60 percent of all scientific institutions operate within government ministries and departments. The organizational role of the specialized academies of sciences has increased, and the network of research institutes and other institutions under the specialized academies has become more elaborate.

In 1971 the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR was organized. In 1975 the academy included 38 scientific research institutions.

In 1966 the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the RSFSR was reorganized as the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR. By 1975 the academy included 12 scientific research institutes.

In 1975 the V. I. Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences had seven regional divisions: the Siberian Division in Novosibirsk, the Southern Division in Kiev, the Middle Asian Division in Tashkent, the Eastern Division in Alma-Ata, the Transcaucasian Division in Tbilisi, the Western Division in Minsk, and the Nonchernozem Zone Division in Leningrad. As of 1975, the academy maintained more than 60 scientific research institutes, as well as dozens of laboratories, scientific stations, experiment stations, farms, and other institutions.

The development and practical implementation of integrated long-term economic programs, including such tasks as the intensification of agricultural production and the establishment of highly productive territorial-production complexes, are associated with the activity of central and local specialized scientific research institutes, which collaborate closely with academic institutions and production organizations. The long-term economic programs also include the nationwide development of the mineral raw material and fuel and power base of metallurgy and of the leading branches of machine building and the chemical industry.

Dozens of scientific research institutes and design organizations under various ministries and departments actively participate in solving the numerous production and technological problems associated with the discovery and exploitation of oil and gas deposits in Western Siberia, with agricultural development in the RSFSR’s nonchernozem zone, with the development of the industrial and agricultural zone in the region of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, and with the economic development of the Western Siberian, Angara-Enisei, Southern Tadzhik, and other complexes and of the areas opened up by the Baikal-Amur Main Line.

The scientific research institutes and design organizations of various ministries and departments have combined their efforts to implement interbranch scientific and technological programs, of which there were more than 200 in the tenth five-year plan (1976–80). Such programs include, for example, the development of highly efficient machinery and equipment systems, automated production sections, and new technological processes. The implementation of the programs will contribute to a substantial increase in both the productivity of labor and the quality of manufactured articles.

New technology and new production processes are developed and introduced by scientific production associations, the first of which were established in the late 1960’s. By 1975 there were dozens of such organizations, for example, the All-Union Scientific Research and Design Institute for Metallurgical Machine Building, Pozitron, Plastpolimer, Agropribor, Kriogenmash, and Neftekhim.

The plant sector of science has been further developed. The sector includes scientific research laboratories, offices, and groups at industrial enterprises. For example, in 1975 the Avto-ZIL production association maintained more than 50 scientific research laboratories.

Institutions maintained by higher schools have made a large contribution to Soviet science. The scientific work performed at higher educational institutions ensures the high-quality training of specialists and enables both the large number of scientific personnel on the staffs of such institutions and the students at the institutions to participate in the solution of problems of current interest for the national economy and culture. More than one-third of the scientific personnel in the USSR, nearly half the doctors and candidates of sciences, and over 55,000 graduate students are engaged in research at higher educational institutions.

As of 1975, the higher-school system included more than 60 scientific research institutes and design offices and about 1,300 scientific research laboratories, sectors, and other facilities. The activity of the institutions maintained by higher schools is coordinated by the Scientific and Technical Council of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the USSR.

Well-known research has been carried out by, for example, the institutes of nuclear physics and mechanics at Moscow State University, the Siberian Physicotechnical Institute at the University of Tomsk, the departments of the Moscow Higher Technical School, and laboratories at the Lensovet Leningrad Institute of Technology, the M. I. Kalinin Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, the L’vov Polytechnic Institute, and the Kharkov Polytechnic Institute.

A considerable amount of the scientific work done at higher educational institutions is devoted to the solution of problems associated with the development of, for example, industrial production, agricultural production, and transportation. In just the period from 1971 to 1975, the amount of such scientific work financed from the state budget increased by 38 percent and the amount of contract work rose by 78 percent.

The Northern Caucasus Higher School Scientific Center, the USSR’s first regional complex of higher school-based scientific institutions, was founded in 1969. The center coordinates the scientific activity of more than 40 higher educational institutions and 60 scientific research organizations in the Northern Caucasus.

Contracts pertaining to collaboration in scientific work have been concluded between higher educational institutions and enterprises. Such contracts call for the joint study of scientific and technological problems and the introduction of the results into production.

In the late 1960’s and the early 1970’s, a number of measures were implemented for the fundamental improvement of the national scientific and technical information system. Regional special and interbranch information agencies and systems were established, as were information branches and bureaus in scientific institutions and at enterprises. The work of scientific libraries in providing information became more diversified. The All-Union Scientific and Technical Information Center was founded in Moscow.

All-Union scientific societies and scientific and technical societies have stepped up their work. In 1976, 17 scientific societies operated under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and 37 scientific medical societies operated under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Health. As of 1976, through the scientific and technical societies of the USSR, about 2.8 million persons took part in the activity of, for example, study teams, public economic analysis bureaus and groups, public scientific research institutes and laboratories, and technical information bureaus. In 1976 there were more than 450,000 such public voluntary organizations. The All-Union Society of Inventors and Innovators maintained over 20,000 public design offices and more than 7,000 public patent offices.

International scientific ties of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Creative contact between scientists from different countries is an important factor for progress in world science and serves the cause of peace, détente, and cooperation. The Communist Party and the Soviet government give serious attention to the development of international scientific ties. The Academy of Sciences of the USSR has an important role in the development of the Soviet Union’s international scientific cooperation.

During the October Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War, Russia’s cultural and scientific ties were disrupted. The scientists and scholars of the Russian Academy of Sciences played a major role in overcoming the cultural and scientific blockade imposed by the capitalist states. Having introduced plans for socialist construction, the Communist Party regarded the use of the achievements of world science and technology as an important condition for the accelerated development of Russia. In early 1921, on the initiative of Lenin, the Soviet government sent the first group of scientists representing the Russian Academy of Sciences to a number of European countries in order to set up the scientific contacts of the young Soviet republic. The group included A. N. Krylov, A. F. Ioffe, P. L. Kapitsa, and D. S. Rozhdestvenskii.

At first the international ties of the Russian Academy of Sciences were insignificant. However, they were gradually stepped up. Increased ties were promoted, in particular, by the academy’s 200th anniversary in 1925; the anniversary became an international event for science. By a decree of the government of the USSR, the academy was recognized as “the highest all-Union scientific institution” and was renamed the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (AN SSSR). The development of scientific ties was especially substantial after the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45.

The AN SSSR has established bilateral and multilateral ties with various countries in many fields of science. As of 1976, the academy collaborated with scientists from 108 states. Especially favorable possibilities for the development of scientific cooperation arose in the 1960’s and 1970’s under conditions of détente.

The most extensive ties have been established between the scientists of the AN SSSR and of the academies of sciences of the other socialist countries. In addition to bilateral ties, multilateral cooperation was organized in 1962 on the initiative of the AN SSSR, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the Polish Academy of Sciences. In the framework of multilateral cooperation, research and joint studies with respect to scientific problems of current interest are coordinated. The international socialist division of labor in science and joint efforts of the academies of sciences contribute to the most efficient solution of scientific problems with optimum expenditures of time, intellectual resources, and material resources. The division of labor and the joint efforts are an important factor in the overall integration of the socialist countries.

The multilateral collaboration of the academies of sciences of the socialist countries covers 18 major scientific problems. The academies have established the International Laboratory of Strong Magnetic Fields and Low Temperatures in Wroclaw, Poland, as well as three international centers for the advanced training of scientific personnel: a mathematics center in Warsaw, a center for problems of heat and mass exchange in Minsk, and a center for electron microscopy in Halle (German Democratic Republic). A permanent conference on the social sciences of vice-presidents of the academies has been created to determine subjects for joint research and ways of conducting the research.

The substantial scientific results of the multilateral collaboration are published in the form of joint monographs and articles, papers presented at international conferences and symposia, and author’s certificates. Regular business contacts have been set up. Problem-solving commissions that include prominent scientists have become well-coordinated brain trusts.

The AN SSSR takes part in the study of scientific and technological problems in the framework of the Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON). The plan for the coordination of scientific and technological research covers more than 30 problems of major importance. The academy’s institutions often function as the leading organizations in such research. The Comprehensive Program for the Further Extension and Promotion of Cooperation and Development of Socialist Economic Integration Among the Members of COMECON (adopted 1971) provides, in particular, for the study of a number of scientific problems of primary importance for the development of the national economies of the COMECON members. The studies are to be based on the use of both the most effective methods of cooperation and new organizational forms.

In 1975 agreements on converting to five-year planning of bilateral cooperation were reached for the first time in the history of the international scientific ties of the AN SSSR. Five-year problem-oriented plans for the period from 1976 to 1980 were agreed to with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Cuban Academy of Sciences, the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, the German Academy of Sciences, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Sciences of the Mongolian People’s Republic, the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Rumania, and Rumania’s Academy of Social and Political Sciences. In 1976 an agreement on a five-year cooperation plan was signed with the Council of the Academies of Sciences and Arts of Yugoslavia.

The implementation of the five-year plans, which include joint research on 200 problems covering more than 500 subjects in the natural and social sciences, will make it possible to accelerate scientific and technological progress. Scientific personnel are being exchanged to conduct joint research, to give lectures, and to hold consultations, scientific symposia, and conferences. In 1975 the AN SSSR sent about 4,500 Soviet scientists to socialist countries and received more than 4,900 scientists.

The AN SSSR attaches great importance to the development and strengthening of scientific ties with the capitalist countries and the developing countries.

A major trend in the scientific ties of the AN SSSR is the establishment of bilateral contacts with the national scientific organizations, scientific institutions, and scientists of, for example, the USA, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden, and Japan. The academy also maintains multilateral contacts with the capitalist countries through international scientific organizations and programs and arranges the reception of foreign scientists. The academy’s scientific ties with the capitalist and developing countries have continuously increased, especially in the 1970’s. The number of countries with which various scientific ties are maintained rose from 49 in 1970 to 97 in 1975.

The AN SSSR takes part in the implementation of 83 intergovernmental agreements, programs, and protocols on scientific, technological, and cultural cooperation. The number of agreements on scientific cooperation and the exchange of scientists with national scientific organizations increased from 13 in 1971 to 30 in 1975. In the first half of the 1970’s, the academy sent about 12,000 scientists to the capitalist and developing countries and received approximately 22,000 scientists. About half the Soviet scientists were sent to the USA, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan.

The scientific ties of the AN SSSR have been characterized by a transition from individual contacts to systematic cooperation on a long-term basis. Promising long-term programs, both between governments and between academies, have been developed. Joint scientific work and cooperation in research have been used to an increasing extent. For example, the academy began cooperating with American scientists in space research, power engineering, catalysis, ocean research, environmental protection, and nuclear physics. The cooperation in space research culminated in the Apollo-Soyuz flight in 1975.

The AN SSSR takes part in the activities of international organizations and in research on various scientific problems of a global or regional nature. The development of such cooperation has been especially rapid since the early 1950’s. The scientific institutions of the academy or individual scientists were members of three nongovernmental international organizations in 1950, of 89 such organizations in 1965, and of 155 organizations in 1976.

The scientists of the AN SSSR also take part in the activities of the UN’s intergovernmental international organizations, such as UNESCO, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, and the UN Industrial Development Organization. The academy plays an important role in the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), which is the largest nongovernmental international organization. The ICSU unites 17 international scientific unions in the natural and social sciences, as well as the academies of sciences and the national scientific organizations of more than 60 countries.

The recognition of the universal achievements of Soviet science is evidenced by the election of scientists from the Soviet Union to leading posts in international organizations. In 1965 three Soviet scientists were presidents of international scientific organizations and 24 were vice-presidents. In 1975 leading posts were held by 139 Soviet scientists, of whom 55 were presidents or vice-presidents. Since 1971 the following Soviet scientists were or have been presidents or vice-presidents of international scientific organizations: V. A. Ambartsumian, I. I. Artobolevskii, N. V. Belov, G. K. Boreskov, P. N. Fedoseev, B. G. Gafurov, V. N. Kondrat’ev, F. V. Konstantinov, P. G. Kostiuk, A. A. Markov, A. A. Mikhailov, A. I. Oparin, B. N. Petrov, L. S. Pontriagin, L. I. Sedov, V. I. Smirnov, B. S. Sokolov, M. A. Styrikovich, B. M. Vul, and E. M. Zhukov.

The membership of the AN SSSR in international organizations makes it possible for Soviet scientists to take part in the work of international congresses and conferences and in events held in various countries. In 1960, 263 Soviet scientists participated in 86 events; in 1975, 935 Soviet scientists took part in 196 events. International congresses, conferences, and symposia have been held in the USSR, as have been meetings of the leading bodies of international scientific organizations. In 1975 there were 16 such events, attended by more than 3,000 foreign scientists.

Global scientific research programs are being carried out to an ever-increasing extent. In 1932 and 1933 there was only one such program, the second International Polar Year. Five major long-term programs were conducted between 1960 and 1962. In 1975 there were more than 30 such programs, including studies of the oceans and the environment, space research, the International Geological Correlation Program, the Global Atmospheric Research Program, the International Magnetospheric Study, and the International Geodynamic Project.

Global research programs in the social sciences have included the International Project for the Development of Social Sciences in the World, the International Project for the Study of Slavic Cultures, and the International Project on Automation and the Working Class.

The global research programs satisfy the requirements of uniting the efforts of scientists on a worldwide scale and accelerate the development of world science. They are supported by the governments of various countries, by international organizations, and by international and private funds. Within the AN SSSR, more than 70 scientific committees have been established to coordinate activity in international organizations.

The traditional form of international scientific ties between academies of sciences has been the election of prominent foreign scientists as foreign members of the AN SSSR and the election of Soviet scientists as foreign members of the academies of sciences or the national scientific organizations of other countries. The first foreign honorary members of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences were elected in 1725. Later, prominent scientists, scholars, and intellectuals were elected, including C. Darwin, H. Davy, D. Diderot, M. Faraday, J. L. Gay-Lussac, J. W. von Goethe, I. Kant, P. S. Laplace, J. von Liebig, L. Pasteur, R. A. de Réamur, and Voltaire. In the Soviet period, H. Barbusse, N. Bohr, A. Einstein, P. Langevin, E. Rutherford, and many others were foreign honorary members or corresponding members of the AN SSSR. In 1957 the single rank of foreign member was introduced in the AN SSSR.

In all, over the last 250 years, 1,250 foreign scientists or scholars, including 347 in the Soviet period, were elected; as of Jan. 1, 1981, the AN SSSR had 80 foreign members. As of 1980, more than 500 Soviet scientists were members of more than 200 academies and other national scientific organizations in foreign countries.

As of 1980, 81 scientists of the AN SSSR received prizes from foreign scientific institutions or international organizations. The prizes include Nobel Prizes, the J. Nehru Prize, UNESCO prizes, the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim International Astronautics Award, and the M. Panetti Prize.

Scientists of the AN SSSR participate in the work of many editorial boards and councils of foreign journals. In 1975, 176 Soviet scientists worked on 140 foreign journals.

The AN SSSR mounts expositions of Soviet scientific achievements in many countries of the world and is engaged in the international exhange of books on science.

The academies of sciences of the Union republics and other scientific centers in the USSR play a substantial role in international scientific cooperation.

International scientific cooperation contributes to increases in the efficiency of science and makes it possible both to reduce expenditures of efforts and funds and to accelerate the acquisition of results on pressing scientific problems in the interests of all countries. Scientific exchange makes it possible to become acquainted with national cultural values and daily life and contributes to mutual understanding and friendship among peoples.

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