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

[Note: At this point the report of a visitation by a team of western
engineers and scientists to Akademgorodok in 1996, provides
insights to more current conditions in the scientific research
institutes there. While it is rather brief and not all institutes were
visited, the material provided is very informative.]
(1997 update)
Visit to Akademgorodok in 1996 by scientific team.
NOVOSIBIRSK
The Presidium of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
(SB RAS)
The study team was hosted by Academician Yurii Shokin, chairman of the Siberian
branch. The SB RAS, founded in 1957, is headquartered in the Akademgorodok
near Novosibirsk. This branch covers a larger geographic area of Russia than the
other two branches of the RAS.
The branch has 12 regional centers and is composed of 74 research institutes and
experimental design offices covering the fields of physics, mathematics, and
technical, chemical, biological, geological, and social sciences. The branch employs
40,000 people. Among the 9,000 research staff of the Siberian branch are about 55
academicians, 64 corresponding members of the RAS, 700 doctors of science and
5,000 candidates of sciences. Academician Shokin in his remarks mentioned that
the branch is experiencing decreasing budgets. He regards the branch as a large
research corporation.
Institute of Automation and Electrometry
The Institute of Automation and Electrometry, founded in 1957, has 25 scientific
laboratories. The focus of the institute is on lasers, and non-linear physics, new
information technologies, and task-oriented computer systems. The institute
currently employs 500, including three academicians, 25 doctors of science and 100
candidates for doctors of science. Approximately one half of the institute's funding
is derived from international contracts. The institute's work includes materials and
device development for short wavelength systems, flight simulators, ferroelectric
materials for computer memory storage, mathematical modeling, x-ray tomography,
and precision gravimeters.
Institute of Thermophysics
For the past quarter century the Institute of Thermophysics has focused its research on drag
reduction and laminar flow of submerged bodies. Methods of drag reduction
include injection of gas bubbles into the boundary layer and injection of a fast-made
polymer solution into both a plate's turbulent boundary layer and turbulent flow
formed inside a pipe. Problems of acoustic radiation by turbulent boundary layer
and dynamics of interaction between sound and bubble layers have been studied. A
significant number of experiments were conducted in a low turbulent air dynamic
wind tunnel followed by field experiments in the Black Sea. The development of
cavitation flow and hydroacoustics of wakes are also being studied at the institute.
Lavrentyev Institute of Hydrodynamics (LIH)
868