THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN THE 18TH CENTURY:FIRST STEPS & PROGRESS IN GEOSCIENCES

The Russian (Saint-Petersburg) Academy of Sciences was founded in 1724 by Peter the Great. The idea had occurred to him during visits to the European scientific centers and meetings with renowned scientists. To improve the progress in sciences and education in Russia all members of the Academy had to share their time between scientific work and lectures in the affilated University. Only prominent European scientists were invited to become members, and they signed contracts and received compensations. Russian emperors appointed all members and the President of the Academy. In 1745 the first Russian geoscientist Michael Lomonosov was named full member of the Academy. Russian historian and geographer Pavel Rychkov was appointed first corresponding member in 1759. The 18th century was the time of “palace revolutions” in Russia. From 1724-1801 there were nine emperors and five presidents of the Academy. At times, only an academic bureaucracy directed the Academy, and this led to disputes and resignations. The Academy's first legal decree was signed in 1803. Nevertheless, “academic” expeditions headed by Johann Gmelin, Peter Pallas, Ivan Lepekhin, and Johann Georgi succeeded in opening Russian “terra incognita”. Explorations in Central and South Russia, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East provided unique data for the geosciences. The first geological compilations appeared (Lomonosov, 1763; Pallas, 1777-1778; Severgin, 1798). Russian geoscientists did not participate in the great dispute between neptunism and plutonism. All first Russian handbooks (at the beginning of the 19th century) were based on Abraham Gottlob Werner's concepts. But ideas of Lomonosov and James Hutton (named in Russia as the “Lomonosov-Hutton concept”) did influence geology in Russia. When geoscience was introduced in Russia, foreign seeds found themselves on rich soil.