Russian Academy of Sciences

Russian Academy of Sciences (Росси́йская Акаде́мия Нау́к) is the national academy of Russia. This organization includes scientific institutes all over Russian Federation. To be a member in the RAS is extremely honorable and means a certain acknowledgement from direction of colleagues. During the times of the Soviet Union in was known as the USSR Academy of Sciences.

History

The Academy was founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, and implemented in the Senate decree of January 22, 1724. Those invited to work there included mathematicians Leonard Euler, Christian Goldbach, Nicholas and Daniel Bernoulli, astronomer and geographer Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, physicist Georg Kraft and historian Gerard Miller.

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 expeditions to Siberia.

In 1925 the Soviet government recognized the Russian Academy of Sciences as the "highest all-Union scientific institution" and renamed it to the USSR Academy of Sciences.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, by the decree of the President of Russian Federation of December 2, 1991, the name Russian Academy of Sciences was restored.

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

• Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute
• Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

The RAS 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 largest research institutions.

External links

• RAS web site
• Web site of RAS management
• Russian Space Science Internet Network