Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R.: Anniversary Commemoration

Abstract

THE Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. celebrates this year the 220th anniversary of its foundation by Peter the Great. At first the Academy was not only a learned society and centre of research, but also a university or public school where Russian youths were trained for various vocations and even crafts. The first scientific debate was held at the Academy in November 1725, when Newton's theorem on the spheroidal shape of the earth was discussed. In 1745, that is, twenty years after its foundation, Mikhail Lomonosov, famous chemist, geographer and poet, whose work had an important bearing on modern science in most varied fields of knowledge, was elected to the Academy, where he founded a chemical laboratory. Peter the Great gave the Academy his private library, which formed the basis of the present library, now numbering about ten million volumes. The Academy also received Peter's famous "Kunst-kammer" with its great collection of fossils, mineralogical specimens and curios, which in time developed into the present geological, zoological, mineralogical and palæontological museums. Almost on his deathbed, Peter drafted a plan for an expedition to Kamchatka to discover whether Asia and America were connected by land. The exploration of Russia and the study of its mineral, plant and animal resources played a large part in the scientific activities of the Academy at its inception. Its geographical department produced a series of maps of Russia and Siberia.