250 years of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR

250

YEARS

OF

THE

ACADEMY

OF

SCIENCES

OF

THE

USSR

The whole Soviet nation is marking the 250th a n n i v e r s a r y of the Academy of Sciences, the oldest scientific institution in the country. The h i s t o r y of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR is closely bound up with all our native and world c u l t u r e . Its creation was in fact dictated by the r e q u i r e m e n t s of nascent industry in R u s s i a and with those widespread t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s in the country which a r e a s s o c i a t e d with the name of P e t e r L The Academy linked many s c h o l a r s and during the two centuries of its development before the revolution gave the world a g r e a t number of valuable d i s c o v e r i e s which b e c a m e p a r t of the t r e a sury of world science. Glancing at that period of the development of the Academy, we find such distinguished r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s of it as M. V. Lomonosov, L. Euler, D. Bernoulli, P. L. Chebyshev, F. A. B r e dikhin, B. S. Jaeobi, M. V. Ostrogradskii, N. N. Zinin, A. M. Butlerov, D. I. Mendeleev, I. I. Mechnikov, A. M. Lyapunov, A. A. Markov, and V. A. Steklov. Even under the difficult conditions of t s a r i s t Russia, the Academy of Sciences managed to accomplish a g r e a t deal. Its activity as a center of science and culture was always highly esteemed. But the development of science in the p r e r e v o l u t i o n a r y period encountered enormous difficulties. The a u t o c r a c y only tolerated science and the leading s c h o l a r s at times. The October Revolution opened up a new e r a in the development of our native science. The colossal energy of the nation's creative f o r c e s was liberated. F i r s t of all, science and culture ceased to s e r v e the exploiting c l a s s e s . V. I. Lenin, the c r e a t o r of the f i r s t socialist state in the world and the c r e a t o r of our party, paid exceptional attention to the organization of the economy on scientific principles. In April, 1918, Lenin drew up his portentous "Draft plan for scientific r e s e a r c h work." In it a p r o g r a m was c o n s t r u c t e d for involving the f o r c e s of science in the economic t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s in the Soviet Republic, and in this the place of honor was given to the Academy of Sciences. On J a n u a r y 27, 1921, a meeting took place between Lenin and the V i c e - P r e s i d e n t of the Academy, V. A. Steklov, the outstanding mathematician. In the c o u r s e of this conversation, they considered questions connected with the organization of scientific r e s e a r c h in the Soviet Republic. Such meetings f o r m e d a turning point in the h i s t o r y of our Soviet science. From the v e r y f i r s t y e a r s of Soviet power, science began to produce s u c c e s s f u l solutions to c u r r e n t p r a c t i c a l p r o b l e m s . The content of the r e s e a r c h e s c a r r i e d out by the Academy was determined, on the one hand, by the traditionally compounded directions of the theoretical work and, on the other, by p r o b l e m s on the study of the productive f o r c e s of the country and their use. As an example, one m a y note the activity of the c o m m i s s i o n to study the Kursk magnetic anomaly, organized in 1919 at the d i r e c t c o m m a n d of Lenin and headed by Academician P. P. L a z a r e v . Even in the very f i r s t y e a r s after the October Revolution, the Academy made an enormous step in the direction of the complex study of scientific p r o b l e m s . An i m p o r tant place was allotted to science in the solution of the urgent problems of socialist construction, and the A c a d e m y ' s activity b e c a m e one of the important facets of state construction and acquired an e n o r m o u s scope. In the p r e w a r period, Soviet s c h o l a r s made i m p o r ~ n t d i s c o v e r i e s in all b r a n c h e s of science and technology. World War II was a s e v e r e test of the maturity of our science. But in this examination, too, Soviet scientists passed with honors. The very d a y after the war began, an extended s e s s i o n of the P r e sidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR a s s u r e d the nation, the party, and the g o v e r n m e n t that Soviet scientists would devote all their f o r c e s to victory over the enemy. The Academy of Sciences noted three principal directions of their work: 1) finding and constructing means of defense and solving scientific p r o b l e m s connected with them; 2) scientific aid to industry in improving and assimilating war production;

Translated from Funktsional'nyiAnaliz i Ego Prilozheniya, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 1-2, April-June, 1974. © 1974 Consultants Bureau, a division of Plenum Publishing Corporation, 227 West 17th Street, New York, N. Y. 10011. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. A copy of this article is available [rom the publisher for $15.00~

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ply by raw materials of local origin. By its wartime activity the Academy of Sciences gave considerable practical aid to the m i l i t a r y and h o m e fronts and made a worthy contribution to the overthrow of f a s c i s m . The development of science in the p o s t w a r period has been c h a r a c t e r i z e d by a still g r e a t e r p e n e t r a t-ion into all a r e a s of life of the community. Science has begun to e x e r t an e n o r m o u s influence on the development of production and on the c r e a t i o n of new b r a n c h e s of industry. The solution of many fundamental p r o b l e m s of science has allowed our country to extend still m o r e widely its economic and cultural cons t r u c t i o n and to use the natural wealth of our homeland to a g r e a t e r d e g r e e . The r o l e of science is continually growing. The v e r y founders of M a r x i s t - L e n i n i s m frequently pointed out the e n o r m o u s i m p o r t a n c e of science in a s o c i a l i s t society. Without it, they would not have conceived the c r e a t i o n of the m a t e r i a l - t e c h nological and spiritual b a s i s of c o m m u n i s m . At the p r e s e n t t i m e in the countries of s o c i a l i s m science is becoming e v e r m o r e and m o r e a d i r e c t productive f o r c e . Mathematical science has acquired an e n o r m o u s r o l e in the development of science and technology and the i m p r o v e m e n t of e c o n o m i c s . In r e c e n t decades p r o b l e m s , new in principle, have a r i s e n in m a t h e m a t i c s in connection with the development of a t o m i c and space technology and the extensive i m p l e m e n t a t i o n of m a t h e m a t i c s in economic r e s e a r c h . To solve these p r o b l e m s it was n e c e s s a r y to c r e a t e fast-acting c o m p u t e r technology. The s c h o l a r s of the Academy of Sciences played an outstanding r o l e in solving this gigantic p r o b l e m . The Academy of Sciences of the USSR has c a r r i e d out an e n o r m o u s amount of work in c r e a t i n g science c e n t e r s in outlying d i s t r i c t s . This activity was begun as e a r l y as the end of the 1920's and beginning of the 1930's and, is still going on today. The c r e a t i o n of Aca~lemies of Sciences in the Republics was the logical outcome of this; they have b e e n c r e a t e d in all the Republics. The Siberian Branch of the Academy of Scie n c e s of the USSR, c r e a t e d in 1958, is playing an i m p o r t a n t r o l e in the development of s c i e n c e s in the count~.~r •

At the p r e s e n t t i m e , Soviet science is at the f o r e f r o n t of world science. International scientific cont a c t s have grown considerably; our s c i e n t i s t s a r e worthy r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s of Soviet science in the i n t e r national arena; they take an active p a r t in c o n g r e s s e s and s y m p o s i a and in joint scientific investigations and p r o g r a m s with f o r e i g n s c i e n t i s t s . Soviet s c i e n t i s t s take an active p a r t in the m o v e m e n t for p e a c e and international cooperation. The jubilee y e a r will b e c o m e a y e a r of new a c h i e v e m e n t s of p r o g r e s s i v e Soviet s c i e n c e .