Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0396/03963.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 34KB | 588 lines

$Unique_ID{COW03963}
$Pretitle{295}
$Title{Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Science}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Hippocrene Books, Inc}
$Affiliation{Embassy of USSR, Washington DC}
$Subject{academy
research
space
scientific
sciences
ussr
new
soviet
satellites
system}
$Date{1990}
$Log{Ballet*0396301.scf
Table 56.*0396301.tab
}
Country:     Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Book:        USSR Yearbook '90
Author:      Hippocrene Books, Inc
Affiliation: Embassy of USSR, Washington DC
Date:        1990

Science

[See Ballet: Courtesy Embassy of USSR, Washington DC.]

USSR ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

     This is the country's highest scientific establishment. Its functions
include promoting basic research in natural and social sciences; implementing
research in promising spheres having a direct bearing on the development of
production; finding fundamentally new ways of stepping up technological
progress; and ensuring that scientific achievements are applied to the fullest
possible extent in practice.

     The Academy's highest body is the annual General Conference of its full
and corresponding members, who today number 315 and 581, respectively. The
work of the Academy between sessions of the General Conference is directed by
the Presidium, which is elected every four years. At present, it consists of
41 full members (academicians), with Guri Marchuk, President of the USSR
Academy of Sciences, at the head.

     The general process of democratization in the USSR has affected the
Academy as well. For instance, the electoral procedure has been altered.
Formerly, a pre-drawn-up list of candidates to the posts of President,
Vice-Presidents, Academicians-Secretaries, and Presidium Members was read out
at a general meeting, and it was very difficult to change anything in that
list. Now there is a choice of candidates, and all of them are broadly
discussed.

     The Academy comprises 18 divisions which supervise various spheres of
science. Their activities are headed by four sections of the Presidium, which
group divisions by areas of knowledge-physical engineering and mathematical
sciences; chemical engineering and life sciences; the earth sciences; social
sciences.

     Besides the divisions dealing with specific areas of knowledge, the
Academy has three regional divisions-those in the Urals, Siberia and the
Soviet Far East-and the Saratov and Leningrad Scientific Centres. Branches of
the Academy of Sciences operate in a number of autonomous republics,
territories and regions of the Russian Federation. Scientific research within
the Academy framework is carried out by upwards of 300 institutes,
laboratories, observatories and other scientific establishments.

     The scientists who work in such essential branches of science as
pedagogy, medicine and agriculture are united in three independent academies.
These are organized similarly to the USSR Academy of Sciences.

     Personnel. The Academy of Sciences imposes age limits on those who head
institutes, sections, laboratories, and so on. Meanwhile, to maintain the ties
between Academy members, who retire because of age, and their colleagues, and
to give them an opportunity to continue their research work, the Academy runs
an advisory body which includes honorary directors of Academy institutes,
advisors to institute directorates, and advisors to the Presidium of the USSR
Academy of Sciences. When an Academy member reaches the age of 75, his post is
declared vacant and open to new elections, while the retired academician
retains all his former rights.

     The scientists have the final say when it comes to appointing a director,
who is, of course, first and foremost a scientific leader. When the five-year
term of office expires, or if the post of director becomes vacant for other
reasons, it is contested by several candidates.

     The right to nominate candidates is vested in scientific collectives,
divisions and members of the Academy. Each candidate presents to the
collective he works in a report on his proposed programme of research that
would be conducted at the institute under his leadership; a vote by secret
ballot is then called, and the candidate with the greatest support gets
something like a vote of confidence from the collective. A vote by secret
ballot is then called among the Academy members in the division to which the
institute in question belongs. This procedure is based on the assumption that
the leading scientists in the division have a better overall picture of the
goals and prospects of various spheres of research in their field, and this
explains why their point of view, which proceeds from broad scientific
interests, should play the decisive role.

     The record of elections in over a hundred Academy institutions has shown,
however, that the results of voting in scientific collectives and in Academy
divisions coincide, with very few exceptions.

     Members of learned councils are elected by secret ballot at a general
meeting of research workers. Heads of laboratories, departments and sections
are elected by secret ballot at the learned council meeting from among
candidates nominated by the collectives of these units.

     New financing schemes in the USSR Academy of Sciences. On January 1,
1989, the USSR Academy of Sciences adopted a new system of funding and
economic management. Funds are no longer provided to research establishments
but will be given for concrete programmes and research projects. This should
help to channel financial, material, technical and manpower resources to
priority areas of research and promote the integration of Academy science both
within the Academy and on a national scale.

     The USSR Academy of Sciences has approved 18 priority programmes. For
each programme, a council has been established comprising distinguished
scientists, top economic executives and specialists in the given field of
knowledge. This is the beginning of the process of forming a self-governing
system for supervising research efforts. A council may announce a competition
in a chosen field and invite any research establishment or group of
scientists to participate. If necessary, it may seek advice from experts to
decide the winner and provide him with the funds to complete the work under
the programme.

     A research institute developing its own proposals but failing to win
competition will not go bankrupt. Each of the 18 Academy subdivisions receives
budgetary resources from the Presidium to develop fundamental research
programmes. Approximately 30 per cent of the funds are provided to the
institutes for initiative research which constitutes the initial stage of
future fundamental programmes.

     The mechanism of introducing the results of applied research ( a
neglected part of the Academy's responsibilities until recently) is undergoing
drastic change. Relations between an institute or laboratory and a customer
will now be regulated through a system of contractual prices. The profits
obtained from a contracted piece of work will be used for incentive programmes
and for the scientific, technological and social development of the
establishment. Unlike in the past when researchers were paid fixed salaries,
their earnings will now depend on the amount of work they have done, with all
restrictions on earnings and bonuses removed.

     The main responsibility of the USSR Academy of Sciences remains the same:
the promotion of fundamental research. The state acts as the chief contractor.
In 1989 the budget provided to the Academy by the state was increased by 500
million roubles (formerly, it would have taken a minimum of ten years for the
funding to increase by this amount) to total some 2,000 million roubles.

     Ad hoc laboratories and design bureaus are being established to deal with
major problems or develop key projects. This form of cooperation between
science and industry helps to speed up research work by 1.5 to three times. In
the past three years dozens of such laboratories and bureaus have appeared.
Some of th