Abstract
THE recent decision of the Soviet Government to transfer the Russian Academy of Sciences and its affiliated institutions from Leningrad to Moscow marks the beginning of a new period in the history of the Academy, which dates back more than two hundred years. As is pointed out in the Izvestia, the transference is not a measure dictated merely by consideration of convenience. Indeed, the accommodation which has to be provided at short notice for more than a hundred institutes, laboratories, museums, etc., forming the Academy is only obtainable in the already overcrowded Moscow mainly at the expense of other institutions, which are being moved elsewhere. New and spacious buildings are being erected at a ‘shock speed’, but mostly just planned, while many of the institutions are actually moving. In addition, living quarters have to be provided for the thousands of academic officials and their families, since all flats, rooms, etc. in Moscow are under the strictest State control. All these difficulties have resulted from the recent decree by which the Academy has been brought under the direct control of the Soviet of the People's Commissars. New statutes for the Academy are being prepared in order to replace “the old traditions of purely academic outlook” by work on problems connected with the “socialistic reconstruction” of the country. While the new order will possibly mean increased material support for some of the academic institutions, the decision as to whether or not a certain branch of abstract research deserves support will apparently be now in the hands of laymen officials.
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Russian Academy of Sciences. Nature 135, 111 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135111d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135111d0