STRUGGLE FOR RUSSIAN ACADEMY

Abstract

THE LONG-SIMMERING battle between the Russian Academy of Sciences, seeking to maintain its centuries-old autonomy, and the Russian looking to infuse some efficiency into what it considers a sclerotic institution, will come to a boil later this month. Founded by Peter the Great in 1724 as part of his modernization push, the academy is the granddaddy of the country's arts and science academies. Unlike the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Russian academy gets appropriated funding from the government, says Anne M. Harrington, director of the NAS Committee on International Security & Arms Control. That funding supports hundreds of research institutions and tens of thousands of scientists, she adds. Harrington points out that the Russian science structure, a leftover from the Soviet era, is considered by some to be bloated and inefficient. Government officials concluded about two years ago that the structure needed to be revised if Russia was to be competitive in new ...