A Guide to the Russian Academy of Sciences - University of Texas ...

Preface
There are a number of people whose help and encouragement I must acknowledge in the
creation of this Guide to the Russian Academy of Sciences. I began working on this
study about twelve years ago toward the end of my academic career. Richard
Thomas headed the Center for Strategic Technology at Texas A&M University then
and it was through him that I met and got to admire and know Iohn Erickson and
Dick Woff. Both of these men are excellent scholars of Russian affairs. It was at
that time that I first encountered the Soviet Academy of Sciences. I was confused
by its scope and organization and my curiosity was awakened by it. During my
researches of the Soviet Academy--which at that time included the scientific
academies of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union--and about the time that I had
finished my first draft of a much larger study--perestroika and glasnost and
Gorbachev appeared, the Berlin wall came down, and Russia was reborn.
For some three years I watched in dismay as various republics became independent and my
manuscript was coming apart at the seams iust as the Soviet Union was doing. In
desperation I cut back on the work, concentrating only on the reconstituted Russian
Academy itself. Some of my correspondence with various institute directors and
officials in the Presidium led to an invitation to visit Russia to bring my information
on the Siberian Department up to date, and an invitation to attend a conference on
the history of science in the Ukraine followed. I accepted both, and I spent almost
two weeks in Novosibirsk at the invitation of one of the Vice Presidents of the
Academy--Valentin Koptyug, who was, at that time, also the Chairman of the
Siberian Department. I was able to visit with various persons in the Presidium in
Moscow who grew interested in my efforts. President Iuri Osipov of the Academy
designated me head of a project, along with Valerii Sokolov, Head of the Scientific
Management Department of the Presidium, to develop a guide to the academy. At
that time, we were hopeful about finding some funds from private sources to help
defray the costs incurred in the collection of materials about the academy, and for
their translation into four languages, and its publication for international sale and
distribution. Proceeds from the sale were to be plowed back into the continuing
updating of the guide in future.
We failed to find any money. Valerii and I have limped along, greatly slowed down, but
we have kept updating the materials, and while this present volume lacks
information which both of us would like to have, it represents the best available
material on the academy available to me at the present time. I want to express the
deepest thanks to Professors Koptyug and to all those subordinates of his in
Akademgorodok-Novosibirsk who provided me with much vital information. I
need also to express my gratitude to the directors of the individual institutes who
responded to my questions about their institutes with results which are uneven from
institute to institute but which provide a clearer picture of the kind and extent of
scientific research going on in those laboratories and departments. I have
coordinated the material used from that correspondence with each of them and can
vouch for the accuracy of most of the entries.
Western knowledge about the engineering and hard sciences in the Soviet Union has
always been greater than that about the humanities and the social sciences--a
situation that was corrected with the publication of the Scholars' Guide to the
Humanities and Social Sciences (1994). I have included much of that material in
this study. Blair Ruble, a pioneer in this kind of research, has been supportive of
my efforts. It is good to know someone who understands what you are trying to do
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