Naukograd ( rus, наукогра́д, p=nəʊkɐˈgrat, also technopole), meaning "

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

", is a formal term for towns with high concentrations of research and development facilities in Russia and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, some specifically built by the Soviet Union for these purposes. Some of the towns were secret and were part of a larger system of closed cities in the USSR, many built by forced labour from the Soviet

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

. In the Russian Federation in post-Soviet times, the term is used generally for about seventy towns that have concentrations of scientific research and production, and specifically, refers to a small number of towns that have been recognised for their scientific capabilities and hence get special privileges. Of the more general naukograds, about thirty are located in

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...

and the rest mainly in the

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

, Urals, and

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

n regions. Few are now "closed" — there are only ten closed nuclear towns where Russia's nuclear military work is still carried out. Some still have military connections, such as Fryazino, where advanced radio and electronics devices are developed, but most are now focusing on civilian work with the help of Western aid funds. Some naukograds are operated by the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

, including Pushchino, a biological sciences center, and Chernogolovka, a center for physics and chemistry. Zelenograd (a city and an administrative district of Moscow located forty kilometres from the city centre) is the Russian center for research, education and production in the electronics area. The first town to be officially designated "naukograd" in 2000 was Obninsk, a town with many nuclear and other special materials, meteorological and medical research facilities. Two others followed in 2001: Dubna, an international nuclear research centre and Korolyov, where many space research facilities are located. In 2003 Koltsovo, near Akademgorodok, originally the home of the biowarfare centre

Vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...

but now a centre for pharmaceutical and medical research, Reutov, Fryazino, Michurinsk were also granted the status of naukograd. At least 14 towns have been granted the designation of naukograd.

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Secret Cities
{{Portal bar, Soviet Union, Russia, Science Culture of the Soviet Union Science and technology in Russia Science and technology in the Soviet Union Closed cities Soviet phraseology

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