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'Russian Academy of Sciences' (, ''Rossiiskaya Akademiya Nauk'', shortened to PAH, ''RAN'') is the national academy of Russia. This organization includes scientific institutes from all across the Russian Federation. It is an honour to be elected to membership of the Academy, and as of 2005 there are slightly less than 500 full members of the academy. During the time of the Soviet Union it was known as the 'Academy of Sciences of the USSR' and was the All-Union institution, rather than just of the Russian SFSR. The Academy is headquartered in Moscow.

Contents

History

Structure

Institutions

Awards

See also

External links

References

History

The Academy was founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, and implemented in the Senate decree of January 28, 1724. It was called ''St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences'' between 1724 and 1917. Those invited to work there included mathematicians Leonhard Euler, Christian Goldbach, Georg Bernhard Bilfinger, Nicholas and Daniel Bernoulli, botanist Johann Georg Gmelin, embryologists Caspar Friedrich Wolff, astronomer and geographer Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, physicist Georg Wolfgang Kraft, and historian Gerhard Friedrich Müller.
Under the leadership of Princess Ekaterina Dashkova (1783-96), the Academy was engaged on compiling the huge Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language. Expeditions to explore remote parts of the country had Academy scientists as their leaders or most active participants. These included Vitus Bering's Second Kamchatka Expedition of 1733–43, and Peter Simon Pallas's expeditions to Siberia.
In December 1917, Sergei Fedorovich Oldenburg, a leading ethnographer and political activist in the Kadet party met with Lenin to discuss the future of the Academy. They agreed that the expertise of the Academy would be applied to addressing questions of state construction, in return the Soviet regime would give the Academy financial and political support. By early 1918 it was agreed that the Academy would report to the Department of the Mobilsation of Scientific Forces of the People's Commissariat of Enlightening which replaced the Provisional Governemnt's Ministry of Education. In 1925 the Soviet government recognized the Russian Academy of Sciences as the "highest all-Union scientific institution" and renamed it the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. The USSR Academy of Sciences helped to establish national Academies of Sciences in all Soviet republics (with the exception of the Russian SFSR), in many cases delegating prominent scientists to live and work in other republics. These academies were
:Ukrainian SSR: Академія наук Української РСР (est. 1918; current National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine)
:Byelorussian SSR: Акадэмія Навукаў Беларускай ССР (est. 1929; current National Academy of Sciences of Belarus)
:Uzbek SSR: Ўзбекистон ССР Фанлар академияси (est. 1943; current Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan)
:Kazakh SSR: Қазақ ССР Ғылым Академиясы (est. 1946; current National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan)
:Georgian SSR: საქართველოს სსრ მეცნიერებათა აკადემია (est. 1941 ; current Georgian Academy of Sciences)
:Azerbaijan SSR: -- (est. 1935; current Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences)
:Lithuanian SSR: ''Lietuvos TSR Mokslų akademija'' (est. 1941; current Lithuanian Academy of Sciences)
:Moldavian SSR: Академией Штиинце а РСС Молдовенешть (est. 1946; current Academy of Sciences of Moldova)
:Latvian SSR: ''Latvijas PSR Zinātņu akadēmija'' (est. 1946; current Latvian Academy of Sciences)
:Kirghiz SSR: -- (est. 1954; current National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic)
:Tajik SSR: -- (est. 1953; current Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan)
:Armenian SSR: -- (est.1943; current National Academy of Sciences of Armenia)
:Turkmen SSR: -- (est. 1951; current Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan)
:Estonian SSR: ''Eesti NSV Teaduste Akadeemia'' (est. 1946; current Estonian Academy of Sciences)

In 1934 the Academy headquarters moved from Leningrad (formerly St. Petersburg) to the Russian capital, Moscow, together with a number of academic institutes.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, by decree of the President of Russia of December 2, 1991, the institute once again became the ''Russian Academy of Sciences'', inheriting all facilities of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the territory of Russia.

Structure

The RAS consist of 9 branches by scientific domain, of 3 territorial branches and of 14 regional scientific centers. The Academy has numerous councils, committees and commissions, organized for a different purposes.^[1]

Institutions

The Russian Academy of Sciences includes a large number of educational and research institutions such as

★ Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics

★ Central Economic Mathematical Institute CEMI

★ Dorodnicyn Computing Centre

★ Institute of Archaeology

★ Institute of Biological Instrumentation

★ Institute of Philosophy

★ Institute of Radio-engineering and Electronics

★ Institute of the U.S.A. and Canada

★ Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO)

★ Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute

★ The Karelian Science Centre

★ Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics

★ Komarov Botanical Institute

★ Laser and Information Technology Institute

★ Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering

★ Lebedev Physical Institute

★ Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics

★ N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology

★ Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Chemistry

★ Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics

★ Paleontological Institute

★ Schmidt Institute of the Physics of the Earth

★ Space Research Institute

★ Special Astrophysical Observatory

★ Steklov Institute of Mathematics

★ Sukachev Institute of Forest

★ Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology does not belong to RAS (it belongs to Ministry of Education of Russian Federation), but the system of education ("Phystech System") uses many institutes of RAS (as well as many others institutions) as educational centers.
Member institutions are linked by a dedicated Russian Space Science Internet (RSSI). The RSSI, starting with just 3 members, now has 3100 members, including 57 of the largest research institutions.

Awards

The Academy gives a number of different prizes, medals, and awards:

★ Lomonosov Gold Medal

★ N.N.Bogoliubov Gold Medal^[2]

See also

★ Akademgorodok

★ Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences

★

External links

★ RAS web site

★ Web site of RAS management

★ Russian Space Science Internet Network

★ Satellite photo of the RAS Main Building

★ Satellite photo of the RAS Old Building

References

1. http://www.ras.ru/sciencestructure.aspx
2. http://www.ras.ru/about/awards/medalsandprizes.aspx