The Demidov Prize () is a national scientific prize in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

awarded annually to the members of 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 ...

. Originally awarded from 1832 to 1866 in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, it was revived by the government of Russia's Sverdlovsk Oblast in 1993. In its original incarnation it was one of the first annual scientific awards, and its traditions influenced other awards of this kind including the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

History

In 1831 Count Pavel Nikolaievich Demidov, representative of the famous

Demidov The Demidov family (Russian: Деми́довы), also known as Demidoff or Dimidov, is a prominent Russian nobility, Russian noble family that rose to immense wealth and influence during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Demidovs became a wealth ...

family, established a scientific prize in his name. The Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences (now the

) was chosen as the awarding institution. In 1832 the president of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Sergei Uvarov, awarded the first prizes. From 1832 to 1866 the Academy awarded 55 full prizes (5,000 rubles) and 220 part prizes. Among the winners were many prominent Russian scientists: the founder of field surgery and inventor of the plaster immobilisation method in treatment of fractures, Nikolai Pirogov; the seafarer and geographer

Adam Johann von Krusenstern Adam Johann von Krusenstern (; 10 October 177012 August 1846) was a Russian admiral and explorer of Swedish and Baltic German descent, who led the first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth in 1803–1806. Life Krusenstern was born i ...

, who led the first russian circumnavigation of the globe;

Dmitri Mendeleev Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev ( ; ) was a Russian chemist known for formulating the periodic law and creating a version of the periodic table of elements. He used the periodic law not only to correct the then-accepted properties of some known ele ...

, the creator of the periodic table of elements; Boris Jacobi, pioneer of the first usable electric motors; and many others. One of the recipients was the founder's younger brother, Count Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov, 1st Prince of San Donato, in 1847; Pavel had died in 1840, making Anatoly the Count Demidov (note that Russia did not recognize Anatoly's Italian title of prince). From 1866, 25 years after Count Demidov's death, as was according to the terms of his bequest, there were no more awards. In 1993, on the initiative of the vice-president of the

Gennady Mesyats and the governor of the Sverdlovsk Oblast Eduard Rossel, the Demidov Prize traditions were restored. The prize is awarded for outstanding achievements in natural sciences and humanities. The winners are elected annually among the members of the

. According to the tradition every year the Demidov Scientific Foundation chooses three or four academicians to receive the award. The prize includes a medal, a diploma and $10,000. The awards ceremony takes place every year at the Governor's Palace of Sverdlovsk Oblast, in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

. The recipients of the Prize also give lectures at the Ural State University (''Demidov Lecture'').

Winners (1832-1866)

Winners (from 1993)

References

;Bibliography * (in Russian) N. A. Mezenin: ''Лауреаты Демидовских премий Петербургской Академии наук''. Л., Наука, 1987. * (in Russian) Yuri Alexandrovich Sokolov, Zoya Antonovna Bessudnova, L. T. Prizhdetskaya: ''Отечественные действительные и почетные члены Российской академии наук 18-20 вв.'' Геология и горные науки.- М.: Научный мир, 2000.

External links

Demidov Foundation short history

Demidov Prize and Demidov Lecturing at Lebedev Physical Institute web site
{{Authority control Physics awards Chemistry awards Mathematics awards Biology awards Awards established in 1993

History

Winners (1832-1866)

Winners (from 1993)

See also

References

External links