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, a philosopher, mathematician, and diplomat. Peter's Western European travels introduced him to the new inventions and ideas of the Enlightenment period. It was modeled after the centralized structure of the
Paris Academy and the
Berlin Academy of Sciences. 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.
Early years of the Academy in
Saint Petersburg Peter's widow and Empress
Catherine I followed through with the establishment and formation of the academy, opening it in December 1725. As such, the initial 17 scholars had to teach and administer research. 112 students ages 5–18 made up the total first year enrollment in 1726. During
Catherine the Great's rule, she enacted reforms to improve the academy for scholars. Foreign scholars invited to work at the academy included the
mathematicians Leonhard Euler (1707–1783), 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 1733–1743, expeditions to observe the
1769 transit of Venus from eight locations in
Russian Empire, and the expeditions of
Peter Simon Pallas (1741–1811) to
Siberia. 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 Academy of Sciences of the USSR 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. In the case of Ukraine, its academy was formed by the local Ukrainian scientists and prior to occupation of the
Ukrainian People's Republic by
Bolsheviks. 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. 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, by
decree of the President of Russia of November 21, 1991, the academy again became the
Russian Academy of Sciences, 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, 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,
Michael Atiyah,
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.
Mikhail Kotyukov, 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. ==Presidents==