No other research organization dominates the field of science in its country to the degree that the Soviet Academy of Sciences does. The coming to power of the Bolsheviks in 1917 presented Russian science with a new governmental attitude toward the place of science in national life. The Soviet Union's first five-year plan, the period of this study, was the crucial period for the Academy. During this time the Academy was transformed. Between 1927 and 1932 important decisions were reached by Soviet leaders concerning the organization, control, and planning of science; the role of science in the national economy, the position of the individual scientist, and the nature of scientific research itself. Originally published in 1967. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

By the 1980s the Soviet scientific establishment had become the largest in the world, but very little of its history was known in the West. What has been needed for many years in order to fill that gap in our knowledge is a history of Russian and Soviet science written for the educated person who would like to read one book on the subject. This book has been written for that reader. The history of Russian and Soviet science is a story of remarkable achievements and frustrating failures. That history is presented here in a comprehensive form, and explained in terms of its social and political context. Major sections include the tsarist period, the impact of the Russian Revolution, the relationship between science and Soviet society, and the strengths and weaknesses of individual scientific disciplines. The book also discusses the changes brought to science in Russia and other republics by the collapse of communism in the late 1980s and early 1990s.