ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, Imperial Russian. Animated by a desire to develop Russian science to the degree of complete individuality and independence, the great re former Emperor Peter I united all the most learned men and scientific researchers into one group which he called Akademiya Nauk (i. e., Academy of Sciences), the technical realization of which was entrusted to his imperial physician, Professor Blumentrost. It was in 1724 that Peter the Great definitely approved the plan of Professor Blumentrost whereby the Academy was constituted in three principal parts : mathe matics, natural sciences, and juris prudence. Blumentrost was commissioned to invite to St. Petersburg not only Russian scien tists but also a great number of foreigners which order he executed with the aid of Pro fessor Wolf who had previously maintained an active correspondence with the Emperor. For the maintenance of the Academy Peter appropriated an annual sum of about 25,000 roubles and also presented that institution with his own library and art gallery. But Peter did not live to see the solemn inauguration of the Academy; that honor fell to the portion of Empress Catharine, which took place on 1 Aug. 1726, notwithstand ing the fact that the constitution of the Academy was granted one year- previously and the first assembly of the members met in December 1725. The first president of the Academy was Bhunentrost. When Peter II came to the throne certain members of the Academy were appointed fo erect his education, but when the Emperor went to ivfoscow together with Blu mentrost the directorship of the Academy was entrusted to the librarian, Schuhniacher, who was a selfish and half-learned malt with great power and who soon became most unpopular with the members of the Academy. Many of the most learned members resigned their posts, not being able to endure the interference with their scientific research of a director like Schuh macher. Among the learned members who left St. Petersburg were Professor Eiler and the astronomer de la Cruis, who had spent 22 years in making astronomical researches in Siberia and whom Schuhmacher charged with the theft of Russian state documents; the celebrated author of the history of Siberia, Gerard Fried rich Miller, and others. During the reign of Anna Iohanovna, Schuhmacher's power in creased all the more as he enjoyed the protectorate of Blumentrost, after whom the presidency was given over to Keiser ling, who tried to curtail Schuhmacher's power, but presided only a year and was , suc ceeded by Korf who was friendly with Schuhmacher. However he improved the finances of the Academy and established in it a department of geography, publishing also in 1739 the first scientific atlas of Russia. In 1740 the presidency was transferred to Brevel.n who a4ded to the Academy the library and the nu mismatic collection of Volynski. Finally the
academicians lost their patience with Schuh macher and presented to the Senate a collective complaint against him. As Elisabeth Petrovna was not fond of the Germans and the investi gations proved beyond doubt Schuhmacher's misdeeds, he was arrested and the directorship passed over to Nartov, a favorite of Peter I, who immediately discovered some further un wholesome transactions of Schuhmacher that were threatening the Academy with complete financial ruin. He asked and obtained from the Senate a new appropriation to repair the situa tion. Nevertheless Schuhmacher by some clever, though not honorable, device proved his inno cence, the complaint against him was set aside and he reoccupied his old position. Whep Lomonosov returned from abroad and the presi dency passed over to Count K. G. Razumovski, the controversy started afresh and Lomonosov's plan to add a University to the Academy was ignored. In 1745 regulations were adopted in accordance with which there were 10 members to be appointed by the state and as many honor ary ones. Soon afterward a fire broke out in the archives of the Academy and Schuhmacher was suspected of being the incendiary. •The administrative authority Catharine II granted to the new director of the Academy, Count G. G. Orlov (1766-74), who in turn was succeeded by Domoshnev (1774-82), who in turn was dis missed on account of disorders caused by him. In his stead was appointed Princess E It Dash ova (1782-94), a talented writer and follower of Lamonosov. She delivered a number of lectures in the Academy in Russian and trans lated into the native idiom the principal master pieces of foreign literature. It was during her administration that the Academy started publishing (Akedemicheskiya Izvyestiya) (Aca demic Reports), yezhemyesyachnyia sochineniya) (New monthly compositions), etc. But she was unable to agree with President Nikolay, who was succeeded by Novosiltzev (1803-10). This president issued new regula tions increasing the number of the staff to 18 members and 20 assistants and establishing sep arate sections for history, statistics, political economy and Oriental languages. After Novo siltzev the office of the presidency was held for 37 years by S. S. Uvarov, who further increased the number of members to 21 and reduced that of assistants to 10. He also furthered research work in the fields of ethnography, history and statistics. After the death of Uvarov the presi dency was given to Bludov (1847-64) who made many important investigations in the field of Russian philology. He was succeeded by the celebrated explorer, Admiral Lilke. The Acad emy of Science consists of three parts : (1) physics and mathematics; (2) Russian language; (3) history, political science and philology. Its annual budget amounts to over 500,000 roubles.