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The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the
national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, and serves as a public policy advisors, research ...
of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such as libraries, publishing units, and hospitals.
Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...
established the academy (then the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences) in 1724 with guidance from
Gottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Isaac Newton, Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in ad ...
. From its establishment, the academy benefitted from a slate of foreign scholars as professors; the academy then gained its first clear set of goals from the 1747 Charter. The academy functioned as a university and research center throughout the mid-18th century until the university was dissolved, leaving research as the main pillar of the institution. The rest of the 18th century continuing on through the 19th century consisted of many published academic works from Academy scholars and a few Academy name changes, ending as The Imperial Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences right before the Soviet period. Now headquartered in Moscow, the academy (RAS) is a non-profit organization established in the form of a federal state budgetary institutionGeneral information about the Academy
.
chartered by the
Government of Russia The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...
. In 2013, the Russian government restructured RAS, assigning control of its property and research institutes to a new government agency headed by
Mikhail Kotyukov Mikhail Mikhailovich Kotyukov (; born December 21, 1976) is a Russian statesman and politician. He is current serving acting Governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai since 20 April 2023. He served Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Feder ...
. , the academy included 1,008 institutions and other units; in total, about 125,000 people were employed of whom 47,000 were scientific researchers.


Membership

There are three types of membership in the RAS: full members (
academician An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. Accor ...
s), corresponding members, and foreign members. Academicians and corresponding members must be citizens of the Russian Federation when elected; however, some academicians and corresponding members were elected before the collapse of the USSR and are now citizens of other countries. Members of RAS are elected based on their scientific contributions – election to membership is considered very prestigious.Academy membership
(in Russian)
In the years 2005–2012, the academy had approximately 500 full and 700 corresponding members. In 2013, after the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the
Russian Academy of Medical Sciences The USSR Academy of Medical Sciences () was the highest scientific and medical organization founded in the Soviet Union founded in 1944. Its successor is the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences founded in 1992, and is a part of the Russian Academy ...
became incorporated into the RAS, a number of the RAS members accordingly increased. The last elections to the renewed Russian Academy of Sciences were organized on May 26–30, 2025. As of June 7, 2025, the academy had 1999 living Russian members (full: 865, corresponding: 1134) and about 450 foreign members. Since 2015, the academy also awards, on a competitive basis, the honorary scientific rank of a
RAS Professor Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Professor of the RAS, or RAS Professor; – Proféssor Rossíiskoj akadémii naúk) is an academic rank introduced in 2015 by the RAS to be conferred to distinguished Russian scientists from all fiel ...
to the top-level researchers with Russian citizenship; there are 713 scientists with this rank. RAS professorship is not a membership type but its holders are considered as possible candidates for membership; some professors became members already in 2016, 2019, 2022 or 2025 and are henceforth titled "RAS professor, corresponding member of the RAS" (188 scientists) or even "RAS professor, academician of the RAS" (31 scientists).


Present structure

The RAS consists of 13 specialized scientific divisions, four territorial branches and 15 regional scientific centers. The academy has numerous councils, committees, and commissions, all organized for different purposes.


Territorial branches

;Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS) :The Siberian Branch was established in 1957, with
Mikhail Lavrentyev Mikhail Alekseyevich Lavrentyev (or Lavrentiev, ; November 19, 1900 – October 15, 1980) was a Soviet mathematician and hydrodynamicist. Early years Lavrentyev was born in Kazan, where his father was an instructor at a college (he later became ...
as founding chairman. Research centers are in
Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...
(
Akademgorodok Akademgorodok ( rus, Академгородок, p=ɐkəˌdʲemɡərɐˈdok, "Academic Town") is a part of the Sovetsky City District, Novosibirsk, Sovetsky District of the city of Novosibirsk, Russia, located south of the city center and abou ...
),
Tomsk Tomsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, on the Tom (river), Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. It has six univers ...
,
Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...
,
Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...
,
Yakutsk Yakutsk ( ) is the capital and largest city of Sakha, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of Russia's most rapidly growing regional cities, with a population of 355,443 at the ...
,
Ulan-Ude Ulan-Ude (; , ; , ) is the capital city of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River, Buryatia, Uda River at its confluence with the Selenga River, Selenga. According to the Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census, 43 ...
,
Kemerovo Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka River, Iskitimka and Tom ...
,
Tyumen Tyumen ( ; rus, Тюмень, p=tʲʉˈmʲenʲ, a=Ru-Tyumen.ogg) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Tyumen Oblast, Russia. It is situated just east of the Ural Mountains, along the Tura ( ...
and
Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...
. As of end-2017, the Branch employed over 12,500 scientific researchers, 211 of whom were members of the Academy (109 full + 102 corresponding). ;Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (UB RAS) :The Ural Branch was established in 1932, with
Alexander Fersman Alexander Evgenyevich Fersman (; 8 November 1883 – 20 May 1945) was a prominent Soviet Union, Soviet Russian geochemist and mineralogist, and a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (1919–1945). Early life and education Fersman was bor ...
as its founding chairman. Research centers are 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 ...
,
Perm Perm or PERM may refer to: Places * Perm, Russia, a city in Russia **Permsky District, the district **Perm Krai, a federal subject of Russia since 2005 **Perm Oblast, a former federal subject of Russia 1938–2005 ** Perm Governorate, an administr ...
,
Cheliabinsk Chelyabinsk; , is the administrative center and largest city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the seventh-largest city in Russia, with a population of over 1.1 million people, and the second-largest city in the Ural Federal District, aft ...
,
Izhevsk Izhevsk or Ijevsk (, ; , or ) is the capital city of Udmurtia, Russia. It is situated along the Izh River, west of the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. It is the 21st-largest city in Russia, and the most populous in Udmurtia, with over 600,000 ...
,
Orenburg Orenburg (, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies in Eastern Europe, along the banks of the Ural River, being approximately southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is close to the ...
,
Ufa Ufa is a city in Russia and the capital of the republic of Bashkortostan. UFA or Ufa may also refer to: Places * Ufa (river), a river in Russia; a tributary of the Belaya * Ufa International Airport, near the Russian city * Ufa railway statio ...
and
Syktyvkar Syktyvkar (, , ; , ) is the capital city of the Komi Republic in Russia, as well as its largest city. It is also the administrative center of the Syktyvkar Urban Okrug. Until 1930, it was known as Ust-Sysolsk after the Sysola, Sysola River. Ety ...
. As of 2016, 112 Ural scientists were members of the Academy (41 full + 71 corresponding). ;St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPbB RAS) :The St. Petersburg Branch was established in 2023. As of June 1, 2025, 183 scientists from St. Petersburg were members of the Academy (74 full + 109 corresponding). ;Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FEB RAS) :The Far East Branch includes the Primorsky Scientific Center in
Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...
, the Amur Scientific Center in
Blagoveschensk Blagoveshchensk ( rus, Благовещенск, p=bləɡɐˈvʲeɕːɪnsk, ) is a city and the administrative center of Amur Oblast, Russia. It is located at the confluence of the Amur and the Zeya Rivers, opposite to the Chinese city of Heihe. ...
, the
Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...
Scientific Center, the Sakhalin Scientific Center in
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (, , ) is a city and the administrative center of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. It is located on Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East, north of Japan. Gas and oil extraction as well as processing are amongst the main industries on ...
, the Kamchatka Scientific Center in
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (, ) is a city and the administrative center of Kamchatka Krai, Russia. It is located in the Far East of the country and lies along the coast of Avacha Bay by the Pacific Ocean, nearby Khalaktyrskoye Lake. As of the 202 ...
, the North-Eastern Scientific Center in
Magadan Magadan ( rus, Магадан, p=məɡɐˈdan) is a Port of Magadan, port types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative centre of Magadan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the isthmus of the Staritsky Peninsula by the ...
, the Far East Regional Agriculture Center in
Ussuriysk Ussuriysk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, in the valley of the Razdolnaya River. The city is north of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai, and about from both the China–Russia bo ...
and several Medical institutions. As of 2017, there were 64 Academy members in the Branch (23 full + 41 corresponding).


Regional centers

*
Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
Scientific Center * * *
Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...
Scientific Center *
Vladikavkaz Vladikavkaz, formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () or Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the republic at the foothills of the Caucasus, situated on the Terek (river), Terek River. ...
Scientific Center of the RAS and the Government of the Republic Alania – Northern Ossetia * * *
Karelian Research Centre of RAS The Karelian Research Centre of RAS (KarRC RAS) is a state public institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences based in Petrozavodsk. It was founded on January 31, 1946. At the beginning of 2010, the centre employed 751 personnel, including 3 Cor ...
* *
Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...
Center * Scientific Center of the RAS in
Chernogolovka Chernogolovka () is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia. Center of the town is located some 43 km (27 miles) northeast of the Moscow city limit and 59 km (37 miles) from Red Square. Its population in 2018 was 21,342. History Chernogolovk ...
* *
Ufa Ufa is a city in Russia and the capital of the republic of Bashkortostan. UFA or Ufa may also refer to: Places * Ufa (river), a river in Russia; a tributary of the Belaya * Ufa International Airport, near the Russian city * Ufa railway statio ...
Scientific Center * Southern Scientific Center * Troitsk Scientific Center


Institutions

The Russian Academy of Sciences comprises a large number of research institutions, including: *
Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics The Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics (BINP) is one of the major centres of advanced study of nuclear physics in Russia. It is located in the Siberian town Akademgorodok, on Academician Lavrentyev Avenue, Novosibirsk, Academician Lavrentiev ...
* Central Economic Mathematical Institute CEMI * Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre *
Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology The Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology (EIMB) () is a research institute located in Moscow, Russia. The Institute is included in the Branch of Biological Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ...
* Institute for Medical Science (Russia) * Institute for African Studies (Moscow) * Institute of Far Eastern Studies * Institute for Economic Strategies (Moscow) * Institute of Geography * Institute for the History of Material Culture (St Petersburg) * Institute of Archaeology (Moscow) * Institute for Physics of Microstructures *
Institute for Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences The Institute for Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russian: Институт славяноведения РАН) is an integral part of the Historical and Philological Studies Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It ...
* Institute for Spectroscopy *
Institute for System Programming The Institute for System Programming (ISP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ) was founded on January 25, 1994, on the base of the departments of System Programming and Numerical Software of the Institute for Cybernetics Problems of the RAS ...
* Institute of Applied Physics * Institute of Cell Biophysics * Institute of Biological Instrumentation *
Institute of Biomedical Problems The Institute of Biomedical Problems (IMBP, also IBMP; ) is an institution of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The IMBP is the leading organization in Russia for conducting fundamental research in the field of space biology and medicine; medical a ...
* Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine (Novosibirsk) * Institute of Ecology and Evolution * Institute of Economy (RAS) * Institute of Human Brain (St.-Petersburg) * Institute of Gene Biology * Institute of Silicate Chemistry * Institute of High Current Electronics * Institute of Latin American Studies (Moscow) * Institute of Linguistics (Moscow) * Institute for Linguistic Studies (Saint Petersburg) * Institute of Oriental Studies (Moscow) * Institute of Oriental Manuscripts (Saint Petersburg) * Institute of Philosophy * Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology *
Institute of Radio-engineering and Electronics Institute of Radio-engineering and Electronics () by the Russian Academy of Science is an institute in Moscow, that conducts fundamental research in fields of radiophysics, radiotechnics, physical and quantum electronics, informatics. It was es ...
* Institute of Solid State Physics *
Institute of State and Law The Institute of State and Law (ISL) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) (''Russian'': Институт государства и права Российской академии наук (ИГП РАН)) is the largest scientific legal c ...
* Institute of the US and Canada (ISKRAN) *
Institute of World Economy and International Relations The Institute of World Economy and International Relations (), or IMEMO, is an independent research institute based in Moscow, Russia. In August 2015 the Institute has changed its name to the Primakov Institute of World Economy and Internationa ...
(IMEMO) * Institute of World Literature (Moscow) *
Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute The Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (for short, Ioffe Institute, ) is one of Russia's largest research centers specialized in physics and technology. The institute was established in 1918 in Petrograd (now St. ...
*
Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics The Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics () is a research institute specializing in computational mathematics. It was established to solve computational tasks related to government programs of nuclear and fusion energy, space research and m ...
*
Komarov Botanical Institute The Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences () is a leading botanical institution in Russia, It is located on Aptekarsky Island in St. Petersburg, and is named after the Russian botanist Vladimir Leontyevich Komarov (1869– ...
* Komi Science Centre * Kutateladze Institute for Thermal Physics *
Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long ...
* Laser and Information Technology Institute *
Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering (IPMCE) is a Russian research institution. It used to be a Soviet Academy of Sciences organization in Soviet times. The institute specializes itself in the development of: * Compute ...
*
Lebedev Physical Institute The Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LPI RAS or just LPI) (in ), situated in Moscow, is a Russian research institute specializing in physics. The institute was established in its present shape in 1934 by academician ...
* N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology * A.N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds * Northeast Science Station * Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics * Paleontological Institute * Program Systems Institute * * Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radiowave Propagation (IZMIRAN) * *
Space Research Institute The Russian Space Research Institute (; SRI RAS, Russian abbreviation: ИКИ РАН, IKI RAN) is the leading organization of the Russian Academy of Sciences on space exploration to benefit fundamental science. It was formerly known as the Space ...
* Shemyakin and Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, which has an artificial climate station called "biotron" *
Shirshov Institute of Oceanology The Shirshov Institute of Oceanology ( P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology (IO) RAN, ) is the premier research institution for ocean, climate, and earth science in Russia. It was established in 1946 and is part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. ...
* Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography RAS *
Special Astrophysical Observatory The Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Science (SAO RAS; ) is an astronomical observatory, set up in 1966 in the USSR, and now operated by the Russian Academy of Sciences. Based in the Bolshoi Zelenchuk Valley of the Grea ...
* State Public Scientific & Technological Library *
Steklov Institute of Mathematics Steklov Institute of Mathematics or Steklov Mathematical Institute () is a premier research institute based in Moscow, specialized in mathematics, and a part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The institute is named after Vladimir Andreevich Stek ...
* St. Petersburg Department of Steklov Institute of Mathematics *
Sukachev Institute of Forest The Institute of Forest of the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences is the first academic institution of a forest profile in Russia. It was founded in 1944 in Moscow by native biologist academician Vladimir Nikolayevich Sukachev. ...
* Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry * Vingoradov
Russian Language Institute The V.V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences () is the language regulator of the Russian language. It is based in Moscow and it is part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It was founded in 1944 and is named a ...
* Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences * N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry * Zoological Institute Member institutions are linked via a dedicated Russian Space Science Internet (RSSI). Started with just three members, The RSSI now has 3,100 members, including 57 from the largest research institutions. Russian universities and technical institutes are not under the supervision of the RAS (they are subordinated to the Ministry of Education of Russian Federation), but a number of leading universities, such as
Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...
, St. Petersburg State University,
Novosibirsk State University Novosibirsk State University (NSU) is a public research university located in Novosibirsk, Russia. The university was founded in 1958, on the principles of integration of education and science, early involvement of students with research act ...
, and the
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT; , also known as PhysTech), is a public university, public research university located in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It prepares specialists in theoretical physics, theoretical and applied physics, ...
, make use of the staff and facilities of many institutes of the RAS (as well as of other research institutions); the MIPT faculty refers to this arrangement as the "Phystech System". From 1933 to 1992, the main scientific journal of the Soviet Academy of Sciences was the ''
Proceedings of the USSR Academy of Sciences The ''Proceedings of the USSR Academy of Sciences'' (, ''Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR'' (''DAN SSSR''), ) was a Soviet journal that was dedicated to publishing original, academic research papers in physics, mathematics, chemistry, geology, and biol ...
'' (); after 1992, it became simply ''Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences'' (). The academy is also increasing its presence in the educational area. In 1990, the
Higher Chemical College of the Russian Academy of Sciences Higher Chemical College of the Russian Academy of Sciences (HCC RAS) is an educational institution in Moscow, Russia. Coordinated by the Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') co ...
was founded, a specialized university intended to provide extensive opportunities for students to choose an academic path.


Awards

The academy gives out a number of different prizes, medals and awards among which: *
Lomonosov Gold Medal The Lomonosov Gold Medal ( ''Bol'shaya zolotaya medal' imeni M. V. Lomonosova''), named after Russian scientist and polymath Mikhail Lomonosov, is awarded each year since 1959 for outstanding achievements in the natural sciences and the humaniti ...
*
Landau Gold Medal The Landau Gold Medal () is the highest award in theoretical physics awarded by the Russian Academy of Sciences and its predecessor the Soviet Academy of Sciences. It was established in 1971 and is named after Soviet physicist and Nobel Laurea ...
*
Kurchatov Medal The Kurchatov Medal, or the Gold Medal in honour of Igor Kurchatov is an award given for outstanding achievements in nuclear physics and in the field of nuclear energy. The USSR Academy of Sciences established this award on February 9, 1960 in hono ...
*
Demidov Prize The Demidov Prize () is a national scientific prize in Russia awarded annually to the members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Originally awarded from 1832 to 1866 in the Russian Empire, it was revived by the government of Russia's Sverdlovsk ...
*
Lobachevsky Prize The Lobachevsky Prize, awarded by the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Lobachevsky Medal, awarded by the Kazan State University, are mathematical awards in honor of Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky. History The Lobachevsky Prize was establishe ...
*
Kovalevskaya Prize Kovalevskaya Prize () is a national scientific prize awarded by Russian Academy of Sciences for outstanding achievements in mathematics since 1997 in honor of Sofya Kovalevskaya. Kovalevskaya Prize winners * O. A. Ladyzhenskaya, 1992 * N ...
*
Pushkin Prize The Pushkin Prize () was a Russian literary award presented to a Russian writer considered to have achieved the highest standard of literary excellence. It was established in 1881 by the Russian Academy of Sciences to honor one of the greatest R ...
* Lebedev Prize *
Markov Markov ( Bulgarian, ), Markova, and Markoff are common surnames used in Russia and Bulgaria. Notable people with the name include: Academics * Ivana Markova (1938–2024), Czechoslovak-British emeritus professor of psychology at the University of S ...
Prize * Bogolyubov Medal


History


In the Russian Empire


Creation of the Academy

The academy was a culmination of Emperor Peter the Great's inspiration from his tours to Western Europe and its higher education centers along with the beginning of his correspondence with
Gottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Isaac Newton, Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in ad ...
, a philosopher, mathematician, and diplomat. Peter's Western European travels introduced him to the new inventions and ideas of the Enlightenment period. Leibniz was attracted to Peter's desire to promote education and science in Russia through modernization of the academic system as he had seen in Western Europe, although he could not get a meeting with Peter during Peter's first European tour. Leibniz did, however, begin correspondence with Peter's advisors where he discussed different plans to achieve the westernization of Russia. Leibniz suggested an education reform which divided schools, universities, and academies, as well as creating new academies and schools. Also, Leibniz suggested creating an arts and sciences institution with faculty consisting of leading foreign scholars. Following Leibniz's advice, Peter founded the St. Petersburg Academy of Science a year before he died, in January 1724 and the Senate
decree A decree is a law, legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, monarch, royal figure, or other relevant Authority, authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislativ ...
of February 8, 1724 implemented the academy. It was modeled after the centralized structure of the
Paris Academy The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the forefront of scientific de ...
and the Berlin Academy of Sciences. These model institutions had led to an educated society of philosophical men, something Peter wanted in Russia. In particular, the Berlin Academy of Sciences was founded by Leibniz, exemplary of the influence which Leibniz had on the creation of the St Petersburg Academy of Science. The Paris Academy was administered directly by the King, which inspired Peter to make himself the supreme head of the St Petersburg Academy of Science, although there could be an academy president.


Early years of the Academy

Peter's widow and Empress
Catherine I Catherine I Alekseyevna Mikhailova (born Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya; – ) was the second wife and Empress consort of Peter the Great, whom she succeeded as Emperor of all the Russias, Empress of Russia, ruling from 1725 until her death in 1 ...
followed through with the establishment and formation of the academy, opening it in December 1725. Mathematics, physical sciences, and humanities were the three departments which made up the academy upon its opening. The academy also contained a university and secondary school, promoting higher education in Russia. As such, the initial 17 scholars had to teach and administer research. They were a portion of the 84 Academy staff in 1726 There were also student assistants who helped the scholars and taught in the secondary school. 112 students ages 5–18 made up the total first year enrollment in 1726. 76 of the 112 students were Russian while the other 36 students were foreign. The academy did not have an official charter until 1747. Peter I did lay out the goals for the academy in a document signed before his death called the "Project". In the document, Peter wished for the academy to be a model for Russia. Since the academy was under the Tsar, the presidents, vice-presidents, directors, and vice-directors were all appointed by the crown. Catherine I started this precedent which lasted until the end of the Russian Empire. The academy hit hard times during Empress Anna's rule. A low of 6 students remained in 1744 and the teaching was in German, contrary to Peter I's wishes. The academy achieved a major goal in the 1740s by turning out the first Russian scholar members,
Stepan Krasheninnikov Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov (; – ) was a Russian explorer of Siberia, naturalist and geographer who gave the first full description of Kamchatka in the early 18th century. He was elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1745. The Kra ...
and
Mikhail Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (; , ; – ) was a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science. Among his discoveries were the atmosphere of Venus and the law of conservation of ...
.


Post-1747 Charter

The academy's charter in 1747 brought some changed to the academy's organization which stood until the end of the century. Among some of the changes were Russian and Latin as the official languages, a push to translate literature into Russian, and restrictive working hours for faculty. The charter also emphasized the hope for Russian Academy graduates to replace all the foreign scholars in time. Most of the secondary school graduates went into civil service instead of continue to the university. The university part of the academy gradually deteriorated and eventually died by 1767. During Catherine the Great's rule, she enacted reforms to improve the academy for scholars. She created a commission of academy faculty to lead the academy instead of bureaucratic rule. Also, in the second half of the 18th century, Russian scholars grew in number among the faculty of the academy. To heal the growing internal German versus Russian conflict of the faculty, Catherine the Great convinced
Euler Leonhard Euler ( ; ; ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss polymath who was active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, logician, geographer, and engineer. He founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made influential ...
to return to St Petersburg and head the academy in 1766, where he stayed until he died in 1783. Catherine the Great's son Paul I's short reign marked a decline for the academy as he cut funding for academic institutions and prohibited Russians from attending Western influenced institutions. In 1803,
Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon from 495 to 454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Alexander I Theopator Euergetes, surnamed Balas, ruler of the Seleucid Empire 150-145 BC * Pope Alex ...
reverted to reforms from Catherine the Great's era and gave the academy self-administration power in a new charter. The new charter came with a name change to the Imperial Academy of Sciences.


Scholars and research

Following Leibniz's instructions, Peter reached out to the German philosopher Christian Wolff, a correspondent of Leibniz, in the early 1720s and unsuccessfully offered him the Vice-Presidency of the academy. While Wolff declined a position in the academy, he did invite western scholars to work at the academy to improve higher education within the Russian Empire as outlined in Leibniz's letters. Foreign scholars invited to work at the academy included the
mathematicians A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History One ...
Leonhard Euler Leonhard Euler ( ; ; ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss polymath who was active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, logician, geographer, and engineer. He founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made influential ...
(1707–1783),
Anders Johan Lexell Anders Johan Lexell (24 December 1740 – ) was a Finnish-Swedish astronomer, mathematician, and physicist who spent most of his life in Imperial Russia, where he was known as Andrei Ivanovich Leksel (Андрей Иванович Лексе ...
,
Christian Goldbach Christian Goldbach ( , ; 18 March 1690 – 20 November 1764) was a Prussian mathematician connected with some important research mainly in number theory; he also studied law and took an interest in and a role in the Russian court. After travel ...
,
Georg Bernhard Bilfinger Georg Bernhard Bilfinger (23 January 1693 – 18 February 1750), German philosopher, mathematician and statesman, son of a Lutheran minister. Life He was born at Cannstatt in the Duchy of Württemberg. As a boy he showed great aptitude for stu ...
, Nicholas Bernoulli (1695–1726) and
Daniel Bernoulli Daniel Bernoulli ( ; ; – 27 March 1782) was a Swiss people, Swiss-France, French mathematician and physicist and was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family from Basel. He is particularly remembered for his applicati ...
(1700–1782), botanist
Johann Georg Gmelin Johann Georg Gmelin (8 August 1709 – 20 May 1755) was a German naturalist, botanist and geographer. Early life and education Gmelin was born in Tübingen, the son of a professor at the University of Tübingen. He was a gifted child and began ...
, embryologists
Caspar Friedrich Wolff Caspar Friedrich Wolff (18 January 1733 – 22 February 1794) was a German physiologist and embryologist who is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern embryology. Life Wolff was born in Berlin, Brandenburg. In 1759 he graduated as an ...
,
astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
and
geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...
Joseph-Nicolas Delisle Joseph-Nicolas Delisle (; 4 April 1688 – 11 September 1768) was a French astronomer and cartographer. Delisle is mostly known for the Delisle scale, a temperature scale he invented in 1732. Life Joseph was born in Paris, one of the 11 sons o ...
, physicist
Georg Wolfgang Kraft Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker * Spiders Georg "Spiders Georg" is an Internet meme that began circulating on the mic ...
,
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
Gerhard Friedrich Müller Gerhard Friedrich Müller (; 29 October 1705 – ) was a Russian–German historian and pioneer ethnologist. Early life Müller was born in Herford and educated at Leipzig. In 1725, he was invited to St. Petersburg to co-found the Imperial ...
and English
Astronomer Royal Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the astronomer royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the astronomer royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The Astro ...
Nevil Maskelyne Nevil Maskelyne (; 6 October 1732 – 9 February 1811) was the fifth British Astronomer Royal. He held the office from 1765 to 1811. He was the first person to scientifically measure the mass of the planet Earth. He created '' The Nautical Al ...
(1732–1811). Expeditions to explore remote parts of the country had Academy scientists as their leaders or most active participants. These included
Vitus Bering Vitus Jonassen Bering ( , , ; baptised 5 August 1681 – 19 December 1741),All dates are here given in the Julian calendar, which was in use throughout Russia at the time. also known as Ivan Ivanovich Bering (), was a Danish-born Russia ...
's Second
Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...
Expedition of 1733–1743, expeditions to observe the
1769 transit of Venus A transit of Venus takes place when Venus passes directly between the Sun and the Earth (or any other superior planet), becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus is visible as a ...
from eight locations in
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 ...
, and the expeditions of
Peter Simon Pallas Peter Simon Pallas Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (22 September 1741 – 8 September 1811) was a Prussia, Prussian zoologist, botanist, Ethnography, ethnographer, Exploration, explorer, Geography, geographer, Geology, geologist, Natura ...
(1741–1811) to
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 ...
. The expeditions led to the creation of an atlas of Russia and to research in astronomy, geography, and fauna and flora. From 1750 to 1777, the academy published 20 volumes of their academic journal called ''Novi Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae''. The majority of Russian scientific research in the 18th century was done by members of the academy.


Academy name changes

Originally called ''The Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences'' (), the organization went under various names over the years, becoming ''The Imperial Academy of Sciences and Arts'' (Императорская академия наук и художеств; 1747–1803), ''The Imperial Academy of Sciences'' (Императорская академия наук; 1803–1836), and finally, ''The Imperial Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences'' (Императорская Санкт-Петербургская академия Наук, from 1836 and until the end of the
empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
in 1917). A separate organization, called the
Russian Academy The Russian Academy or Imperial Russian Academy () was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1783 by Empress Catherine II of Russia and princess Dashkova as a research center for Russian language and Russian literature, following the example ...
(), was created in 1783 to work on the study of the
Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...
. Presided over by Princess Yekaterina Dashkova (who at the same time was the Director of the Imperial Academy of Arts and Sciences, i.e., the country's "main" academy), the Russian Academy was engaged in compiling the six-volume ''Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language'' (1789–1794). The Russian Academy was merged into the Imperial Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1841.


In the Soviet Union

Shortly after the
October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
, in December 1917, Sergey Fedorovich Oldenburg, a leading
ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
and political activist in the
Kadet The Constitutional Democratic Party (, K-D), also called Constitutional Democrats and formally the Party of People's Freedom (), was a political party in the Russian Empire that promoted Western constitutional monarchy—among other policies ...
party, met with
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
to discuss the future of the academy. They agreed that the expertise of the academy would be applied to addressing questions of state construction, while in return the Soviet government would give the academy financial and political support. The most important activities of the academy in the 1920s included an investigation of the large
Kursk Magnetic Anomaly The Kursk Magnetic Anomaly () is recognized as the largest magnetic anomaly on Earth. It is a territory rich in iron ores located within the Kursk, Belgorod, and Voronezh oblasts in Russia, and constitutes a significant part of the Central Bla ...
, of the minerals in the
Kola Peninsula The Kola Peninsula (; ) is a peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia, and one of the largest peninsulas of Europe. Constituting the bulk of the territory of Murmansk Oblast, it lies almost completely inside the Arctic Circle and is border ...
, and participation in the
GOELRO plan GOELRO () was the first of Soviet Russia's plans for national economic recovery and development. It became the prototype for subsequent Five-Year Plans drafted by Gosplan. GOELRO is the transliteration of the Russian abbreviation for "State Com ...
targeted electrification of the whole country. In 1925 the
Soviet government The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the executive and administrative organ of the highest body of state authority, the All-Union Supreme Soviet. It was formed on 30 December 1922 and abolished on 26 December 199 ...
recognized the Russian Academy of Sciences as the "highest all-Union scientific institution" and renamed it the
Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (un ...
. In 1934, the academy headquarters moved from
Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
to the capital, Moscow. The Stalin years were marked by a rapid
industrialisation Industrialisation ( UK) or industrialization ( US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive reorganisation of an economy for th ...
of the Soviet Union for which a great deal of research, mainly in the technical fields, was done. However, on the other hand, in these very times, many scientists underwent repressions for ideological reasons. In the years of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the Soviet Academy of Sciences made a big contribution to a development of modern weapons –
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...
s (new series of
T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank from World War II. When introduced, its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was more powerful than many of its contemporaries, and its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against Anti-tank warfare, ...
),
airplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...
s,
degaussing Degaussing, or deperming, is the process of decreasing or eliminating a remnant magnetic field. It is named after the gauss, a unit of magnetism, which in turn was named after Carl Friedrich Gauss. Due to magnetic hysteresis, it is generally not ...
the ships (for protection against the
naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...
s) etc. – and therefore to victory of the USSR over
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
. During and after the war, the academy was involved in the
Soviet atomic bomb project The Soviet atomic bomb project was authorized by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons during and after World War II. Russian physicist Georgy Flyorov suspected that the Allied powers were secretly developing a " superwea ...
; due to its success and other achievements in military techniques, the USSR became one of the
superpower Superpower describes a sovereign state or supranational union that holds a dominant position characterized by the ability to Sphere of influence, exert influence and Power projection, project power on a global scale. This is done through the comb ...
s in the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
era. At the end of the 1940s, the academy consisted of eight divisions (Physico-Mathematical Science, Chemical Sciences, Geological-Geographical Sciences, Biological Science, Technical Science, History and Philosophy, Economics and Law, Literature and Languages); three committees (one for coordinating the scientific work of the Academies of the Republics, one for scientific and technical propaganda, and one for editorial and publications), two commissions (for publishing popular scientific literature, and for museums and archives), a laboratory for scientific photography and cinematography and Academy of Science Press departments external to the divisions. The Academy of Sciences of the USSR helped to establish national Academies of Sciences in all Soviet republics (with the exception of the
Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
), in many cases delegating prominent scientists to live and work in other republics. In the case of Ukraine, its academy was formed by the local Ukrainian scientists and prior to occupation of the
Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, as a result of the February Revolution, ...
by
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
s. These academies were: Among the most important achievements of the academy of the second half of the 20th century, there is, first of all, the
Soviet space program The Soviet space program () was the state space program of the Soviet Union, active from 1951 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Contrary to its competitors (NASA in the United States, the European Space Agency in Western Euro ...
. In 1957 the first satellite was launched, in 1961 Yury Gagarin became the first person in space, and in 1971 the first space station Salyut 1 began its operation. Discoveries were also made in the nuclear branch and in other fields of physics. Furthermore, the academy participated in opening new universities or new study programs in the already existed universities, whose best absolvents started their career at the research institutes of the academy.


Post-Soviet period

After the
collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
, by
decree of the President of Russia A Decree of the President of the Russian Federation (; ''Ukaz Prezidenta Rossiyskoy Federatsii'') or Executive Order (Decree) of the President of Russia is a legal act (''ukase'') with the status of a by-law made by the President of Russia. As no ...
of December 2, 1991, the academy again became the ''Russian Academy of Sciences'', inheriting all facilities of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the territory of the Russian Federation. The crisis of the 1990s in the post-Soviet Russia and a consequent drastic reduction of the state support for science have forced many scientists to leave Russia for Europe, Israel or the United States. Some excellent university graduates who could have become promising researchers also switched to other activities, predominately in commerce. The Russian Academy practically lost a generation of people born from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s; this age category is now underrepresented in all research institutes. In the 2000s, the situation in the Russian science and technology has improved, the government announced a modernization campaign. Nevertheless, according to the Russian Academy of Sciences, total R&D spending in 2013 still hovered about 40% below the pre-crisis 1990 levels. Furthermore, a lack of competition, decayed infrastructure and continuing, though slightly reduced, brain drain play their part.


Restructured academy 2013 and later

On June 28, 2013, the Russian Government announced a draft law that would dissolve the RAS while creating a new "public-governmental" organization with the same name. The RAS would be fused with two other Russian national academies— and
Russian Academy of Medical Sciences The USSR Academy of Medical Sciences () was the highest scientific and medical organization founded in the Soviet Union founded in 1944. Its successor is the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences founded in 1992, and is a part of the Russian Academy ...
, with all members of all academies acquiring equal status as academicians. The law also created a new government agency: (FASO). FASO would take control of all buildings and other property of the academy. In addition, all RAS academic institutes were removed from academy control. Instead, the new government agency FASO was empowered to "evaluate", relying on its own criteria, the efficiency of research institutes and rearrange ineffective ones. The draft law, which, in its initial form, would have fundamentally changed the system of science organization in Russia, provoked conflicts and protests within academic circles. A large group of the RAS members signalized their intention not to join the new academy if the reform is run as planned in the draft. Some leading scientists (including
Pierre Deligne Pierre René, Viscount Deligne (; born 3 October 1944) is a Belgian mathematician. He is best known for work on the Weil conjectures, leading to a complete proof in 1973. He is the winner of the 2013 Abel Prize, 2008 Wolf Prize, 1988 Crafoor ...
,
Michael Atiyah Sir Michael Francis Atiyah (; 22 April 1929 – 11 January 2019) was a British-Lebanese mathematician specialising in geometry. His contributions include the Atiyah–Singer index theorem and co-founding topological K-theory. He was awarded the ...
, Mumford, and others) wrote open letters which referred to the planned reform of the RAS as "shocking" and even "criminal". In this situation, the draft was softened in some details—e.g., there remained no words about "dissolution" in the text—and approved on September 27, 2013. In 2014, Putin announced more changes to science funding that reduced RAS power while increasing that of the government. In 2017, the election of the RAS president was brought under government control. At the General Meeting of the RAS in March 2018, the RAS president (that time) Alexander Sergeev said that the academy enters now the post-reform period. In May 2018, the FASO was incorporated into Russia's new Ministry of Science and Higher Education. The latter was created by splitting the
Ministry of Education and Science Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...
.
Mikhail Kotyukov Mikhail Mikhailovich Kotyukov (; born December 21, 1976) is a Russian statesman and politician. He is current serving acting Governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai since 20 April 2023. He served Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Feder ...
, who had been head of FASO since its creation, was named head of the new Ministry of Science and Higher Education. In June 2023, the RAS opened the Modern Ideology of China Research Laboratory within its Institute of China and Contemporary Asia to study
Xi Jinping Thought Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, commonly abbreviated outside China as Xi Jinping Thought, is a political doctrine created during General Secretary Xi Jinping's leadership of the Chinese Communist ...
.


Presidents


Imperial Russia

The following persons occupied the position of the academy's President (or, sometimes, Director): *
Laurentius Blumentrost Laurentius Blumentrost (; 8 November 1692 – 14 June 1755) was a Russian Imperial state figure, the personal physician to the Tsar Peter the Great, founder and first president of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, from December 7, 1725, to ...
, 1725–1733 *
Hermann Karl von Keyserling Count Hermann Karl von Keyserling (1697–1764) was a Russian diplomat from the Keyserlingk family of Baltic German nobility based in the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia. Life In 1733, the nobility of Courland sent Keyserling to Saint Peters ...
1733–1734 * Johann Albrecht Korf, 1734–1740 * , 1740–1741 * (Post vacant, April 1741 – October 1746) * Count
Kirill Razumovsky Count Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky or Razumovski (also known as ''Cyril Razumovski''; ; ; Oleksander Ohloblyn. Rozumovsky, Kyrylo'. Encyclopedia of Ukraine – ) was a Russian statesman of Ukrainian Cossack origin who served as the last ...
, 1746–1766 (nominally, till 1798) * Count Vladimir Orlov, 1766–1774 (Director) * , 1771–1773 (Occasional Substitute of
Orlov Orlov or Orlova may refer to: Places *Orlov, Russia (''Orlova''), several inhabited localities in Russia *Orlov, Stará Ľubovňa District, a village in Slovakia *Orlová, a town in the Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic *Orlov, a village ...
) * , 1775–1782 (Director) * Princess
Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova Princess Yekaterina Romanovna Dashkova (born Countess Vorontsova; ; 28 March 1743 – 15 January 1810) This source reports that Prince Dashkov died in 1761. was an influential noblewoman, a major figure of the Russian Enlightenment and a close ...
, 1783–1796 (Director; sent into ''de facto'' retirement in 1794. Simultaneously served as the President of the
Russian Academy The Russian Academy or Imperial Russian Academy () was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1783 by Empress Catherine II of Russia and princess Dashkova as a research center for Russian language and Russian literature, following the example ...
) * , 1794–1796 (acting Director), 1796–1798 (Director). Simultaneously served as the President of the
Russian Academy The Russian Academy or Imperial Russian Academy () was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1783 by Empress Catherine II of Russia and princess Dashkova as a research center for Russian language and Russian literature, following the example ...
*
Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay Ludwig Heinrich Freiherr von Nicolay (; 25 December 1737, in Strasbourg, in Monrepos north of Vyborg) was a German poet of the Enlightenment. He served as President of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences between 1798 and 1803. Nicolay was t ...
, 1798–1803 *
Nikolay Novosiltsev Count Nikolay Nikolayevich Novosiltsev (Novoselcev) (, ) (1761–1838) was a Russian statesman and a close aide to Alexander I of Russia. Life He was a natural son of a wealthy nobleman, married to the aunt of Count Pavel Stroganov. This rel ...
, 1803–1810 * (Post vacant, April 1810 – Jan 1818) * Count
Sergey Uvarov Count Sergey Semionovich Uvarov (; – ) was a Russian classical scholar and politician who is best remembered as an influential statesman under Nicholas I of Russia. Biography Uvarov, connected through marriage with the Razumovsky family, ...
, 1818–1855 *
Dmitry Bludov Count Dmitry Nikolayevich Bludov (Russian: Граф Дмитрий Николаевич Блудов; 1785–1864) was an Imperial Russian official who filled a variety of posts under Nicholas I - Deputy Education Minister (1826–28), Minister ...
, 1855–1864 *
Fyodor Litke Fyodor, Fedor () or Feodor is the Russian-language form of the originally Greek-language name "Theodore" () meaning "God's gift" or "god-given". Fedora () is the feminine form. "Fyodor" and "Fedor" are two English transliterations of the same Ru ...
, 1864–1882 * Count
Dmitry Tolstoy Count Dmitry Andreyevich Tolstoy (; , Moscow – , Saint Petersburg) was a Russian politician and a member of the State Council of Imperial Russia (1866). He belonged to the comital branch of the Tolstoy family. Career Tolstoy graduated f ...
, 1882–1889 *
Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich of Russia Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor Places * Grand, Oklahoma, USA * Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre * Grand County (disambiguation) ...
, 1889–1915 * (Post vacant, June 1915 – May 1917)


Soviet Russia

*
Alexander Karpinsky Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky (, trl. Aljeksandr Pjetrovič Karpinskij; 7 January 1847 O.S. 26 December 1846">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 26 December 1846– 15 July 1936) was a pr ...
, 1917–1936 *
Vladimir Komarov Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov (, ; 16 March 1927 – 24 April 1967) was a Soviet test pilot, aerospace engineer, and cosmonaut. In October 1964, he commanded Voskhod 1, the first spaceflight to carry more than one crew member. He became the f ...
, 1936–1945 * Sergey Vavilov, 1945–1951 *
Alexander Nesmeyanov Alexander Nikolayevich Nesmeyanov (; – 17 January 1980) was a Soviet chemist and academician (1943) specializing in organometallic chemistry. Biography He was born in Moscow. He had two brothers Vasily (1904) and Andrei (1911) and a sister Ta ...
, 1951–1961 *
Mstislav Keldysh Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh (; – 24 June 1978) was a Soviet mathematician who worked as an engineer in the Soviet space program. He was the academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (1946), President of the Academy of Sc ...
, 1961–1975 * Anatoly Alexandrov, 1975–1986 *
Gury Marchuk Gury Ivanovich Marchuk (; 8 June 1925 – 24 March 2013) was a Soviet and Russian scientist in the fields of computational mathematics, and physics of atmosphere. Academician (since 1968); the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 198 ...
, 1986–1991


Russian Federation

*
Yury Osipov Yury Sergeyevich Osipov (; born 7 July 1936) is a Soviet and Russian mathematician. He was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union in 1987 and was a president of its successor, the Russian Academy of Sciences from 17 ...
, 1991–2013 * Vladimir Fortov, 2013–2017 * Valery Kozlov, 2017 (acting) * Alexander Sergeev, 2017–2022 * Gennady Krasnikov, since Sept 2022 The last presidential elections in the academy (and also elections of the presidium) were organized on September 25–28, 2017. Initially the event was planned for March 2017, but unexpectedly all candidates retracted their nominations, and the elections were postponed.


Achievements


Social activities of the academy and its members

Scientists of the academy were repeatedly elected deputies of various levels. In the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1974, "among the deputies of the Council of the Union, there were 22 scientists from the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the academies of sciences of the Union republics, and branch academies."Report of the mandate committee
of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the ninth convocation.
In 1989,
Andrei Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet Physics, physicist and a List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which he was awarded in 1975 for emphasizing human rights around the world. Alt ...
became a People's Deputy of the USSR. Many scientists have worked in the
State Duma of the Russian Federation The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993. The Duma headquarters are located in central Mos ...
, among the most famous are the physicist
Zhores Alferov Zhores Ivanovich Alferov ( rus, Жоре́с Ива́нович Алфёров, , ʐɐˈrɛs ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ɐlˈfʲɵrəf}; ; 15 March 19301 March 2019) was a Soviet and Russian physicist and academic who contributed significantly to the cr ...
(deputy from the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF; ) is a communist political party in Russia that officially adheres to Marxist–Leninist philosophy. It is the second-largest political party in Russia after United Russia. The youth o ...
until his death on March 1, 2019, initiator of the laws "On Education for All" and "On Support for Innovation in Russia"), physician
Gennady Onishchenko Gennadiy Grigoryevich Onishchenko (, born 20 November 1950) is a Russian government official who was the Chief Sanitary Inspector of Russia from 1996 to 2013. He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor ...
(from
United Russia The All-Russian Political Party United Russia (, ) is the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Russia, political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the St ...
, member of the committee on education and science), and polar explorer
Artur Chilingarov Artur Nikolaevich Chilingarov (; 25 September 1939 – 1 June 2024) was an Armenian-Russian polar explorer, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1986 and the title of ...
(United Russia).


Nobel Prize laureates affiliated with the Academy

* Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, medicine, 1904 *
Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov Ilya, Iliya, Ilia, Ilja, Ilija, or Illia ( , or ; ; ) is the East Slavic form of the male Hebrew name Eliyahu (Eliahu), meaning "My God is Yahu/ Jah." It comes from the Byzantine Greek pronunciation of the vocative (Ilía) of the Greek Eli ...
, medicine, 1908 * Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin, literature, 1933 *
Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov , sometimes Semenov, Semionov or Semenoff (; – 25 September 1986) was a Soviet physicist and chemist. Semyonov was awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the mechanism of chemical transformat ...
, chemistry, 1956 * Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm, physics, 1958 *
Ilya Mikhailovich Frank Ilya Mikhailovich Frank (; 23 October 1908 – 22 June 1990) was a Soviet physicist who received the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Igor Y. Tamm, also of the Soviet Union. He received the award for h ...
, physics, 1958 *
Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov ( ; July 28, 1904 – January 6, 1990) was a Soviet physicist who shared the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ilya Frank and Igor Tamm "for the discovery and interpretation of the Cherenkov effect". Biography Che ...
, physics, 1958 *
Lev Davidovich Landau Lev Davidovich Landau (; 22 January 1908 – 1 April 1968) was a Soviet physicist who made fundamental contributions to many areas of theoretical physics. He was considered as one of the last scientists who were universally well-versed and ma ...
, physics, 1962 * Nikolay Gennadiyevich Basov, physics, 1964 *
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov (born Alexander Michael Prochoroff, ; 11 July 1916 – 8 January 2002) was an Australian-born Russian physicist and researcher on lasers and masers, in the former Soviet Union. He shared the Nobel Prize in Ph ...
, physics, 1964 * Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, literature, 1965 * Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, literature, 1970 *
Leonid Vitaliyevich Kantorovich Leonid Vitalyevich Kantorovich (, ; 19 January 19127 April 1986) was a Soviet mathematician and economist, known for his theory and development of techniques for the optimal allocation of resources. He is regarded as the founder of linear programm ...
, economics, 1975 *
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet Physics, physicist and a List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which he was awarded in 1975 for emphasizing human rights around the world. Alt ...
, peace, 1975 * Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, physics, 1978 *
Zhores Ivanovich Alferov Zhores Ivanovich Alferov ( rus, Жоре́с Ива́нович Алфёров, , ʐɐˈrɛs ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ɐlˈfʲɵrəf}; ; 15 March 19301 March 2019) was a Soviet and Russian physicist and academic who contributed significantly to the cr ...
, physics, 2000 *
Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov (; June 25, 1928 – March 29, 2017) was a Soviet, Russian and AmericanAlexei A. AbrikosovAutobiography Nobelprize.org, the official website of the Nobel Prize, 2003 theoretical physicist whose main contributions are ...
, physics, 2003 * Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg, physics, 2003 *
Andre Geim Sir Andre Konstantin Geim (; born 21 October 1958; IPA1 pronunciation: ɑːndreɪ gaɪm) is a Russian-born Dutch–British physicist working in England in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. Geim was awarded th ...
, physics, 2010


See also

*
Academy of Sciences Glacier The Academy of Sciences Glacier (; ''Lednik Akademii Nauk'') is a large ice cap on Komsomolets Island, Severnaya Zemlya, Russian Federation. It is the largest in Severnaya Zemlya and is also the largest single glacier formation of Russia. Histo ...
*
Academy of Sciences Range Tajik National Academy of Sciences Range (, until 31 July, 2023 Academy of Sciences Range) is a mountain range in the Western Pamirs of Tajikistan. It is stretched in a north-south direction and considered to be the core of the Pamir mountain sy ...
* Akademgorodok in Krasnoyarsk * Akademgorodok in Novosibirsk * Akademgorodok in Tomsk * Lev Davidovich Belkind has released a number of books on the unique contribution of Russian scientists and engineers to the technological progress. *
Neuro-linguistic programming Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a Pseudoscience, pseudoscientific approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy that first appeared in Richard Bandler and John Grinder's book ''The Structure of Magic I'' (1975). NLP ...
*
Constitutional economics Constitutional economics is a research program in economics and constitutionalism that has been described as explaining the choice "of alternative sets of legal-institutional-constitutional rules that constrain the choices and activities of econom ...
* Energy Research Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences *
Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) is a Russian national institution dedicated to provide information of any volcanic activity taking place on the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands of Russia that could become a threat ...
*
Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences The Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences () is a large state-owned Russian library based in Saint Petersburg on Vasilievsky Island and open to employees of institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences and scholars with higher education ...
*
List of Russian explorers The history of exploration by citizens or subjects of the Russian Federation, the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire, the Tsardom of Russia and other Russian predecessor states forms a significant part of the history of Russia as well as the histo ...
*
List of Russian inventors This is a list of inventors from the Russian Federation, Soviet Union, Russian Empire, Tsardom of Russia and Grand Duchy of Moscow, including both ethnic Russians and people of other ethnicities. This list also includes those who were born in ...
*
List of Russian scientists Polymaths *Karl Ernst von Baer, polymath naturalist, formulated the geological Baer's law on river erosion and embryological Baer's laws, founder of the Russian Entomological Society, co-founder of the Russian Geographical Society *Alexander Boro ...
*
MARS-500 The MARS-500 mission was a psychosocial isolation experiment conducted between 2007 and 2011 by Russia, the European Space Agency, and China, in preparation for an unspecified future crewed spaceflight to the planet Mars. The experiment's ...
* Nauka, RAS publishing division *
Open access in Russia In January 2008, Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian academics issued the "Belgorod Declaration" in support of open access to scientific and cultural knowledge. Russian supporters of the international "Open Access 2020" campaign, launched in 2016, i ...
*
Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory is a Russian (former Soviet) radio astronomy observatory. It was developed by Lebedev Physical Institute (LPI), Russian Academy of Sciences within a span of twenty years. It was founded on April 11, 1956, and ...
*
Timeline of Russian inventions and technology records This timeline of Russian innovation encompasses key events in the history of technology in Russia. The entries in this timeline fall into the following categories: * indigenous invention, like airliners, AC transformers, radio receivers, tel ...
*
VINITI Database RAS VINITI Database RAS is a database provided by the All-Russian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (VINITI). The database is devoted to scientific publications. It is described as a large abstracting database. In general, it is index ...
*
Named prizes and medals of the Russian Academy of Sciences The prizes and gold medals named after prominent scientists () are issued by the Russian Academy of Sciences for important scientific works, discoveries and inventions. The awards are issued in the name of the RAS according to the results of contest ...
*
Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences Established in 1931, the ''Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences'' (''Vestnik Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk'') is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica and Springer Science+Business Media. It covers major ...
*
Aleksandr and Boris Arbuzov House-Museum Aleksandr and Boris Arbuzov House-Museum (Russian language, Russian: ''Дом-музе́й акаде́миков А. Е. и Б. А. Арбу́зовых'') is a Russian State (departmental) Memorial Museum attached to the Aleksandr Arbuzov, A. E ...


References


Sources

*


External links


Official website

Satellite photo of the RAS Old Building
{{coord, 55, 42, 39, N, 37, 34, 41, E, region:RU-MOW_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title 1724 establishments in the Russian Empire Scientific organizations established in 1724 Members of the International Council for Science Members of the International Science Council People's Commissariat for Education