The science of Pierre Legrand to Putin
Origin: Seen again Objective is / beginning on 2003
The birth of a modern science in Russia, goes back up at the time of Peter the Great, which creates the Academy of sciences in 1725, and favours education of mathematics and physical sciences, to fill Russian delay up in relation to Western Europe, notably in military and naval domains. This dynamics will be followed by Catherine II, who encourages the creation of universities, and in varying degrees by her successors, throughout the XIXth century. Thanks to these efforts, Russia can demand at the dawn of the XXth century, the existence of a scientific established community which counts big names such the mathematicians Lobatchevsky, Liapunov, and Ostrogradsky, the chemists Mendel ev and Vernadsky, or the physiologist Pavlov, Nobel prize of medicine for its jobs on the animal conditioning.
Just after Revolution, Bolch viks is first distrustful in relation to the scholars whom they assimilate with frames of ancient regime. This attitude is illustrated with irony by
Boulgakov, in the novel "dog's heart". However, the policy of industrialisation with forced march led by Lenin then by Stalin demands the development of a strong scientific base and the training as a whole of engineers and of technical frames to support this policy. He results from it an encouragement of research, which is translated by the launching of ambitious programmes and the attribution of a privileged social status
to the researchers, relatively less affected than other categories by the Stalinist redemptions of the thirties. But it is in the war years (1941-1945) when is going to work out a true policy of research, across the creation of the Institutes of Scientific research and Organisations of Research and of Production . Priority is then in national defence, and research will principally serve for meeting
needs of military industry. This direction will be reinforced later 70 % budgets search - as part of Cold War and of unavoidable arms race that she draws away. That's how is set up, just after war, the Russian nuclear programme in which will become famous scientists of genius such Serpukhov and Sakharov. At the same time is launched the space programme the first objective of which is to conceive ballistic missiles capable of achieving
The United States, but who will turn very early to development of manned flights and planetary exploration.
If mathematics and physics occupy the first places in the pantheon of Soviet science, other disciplines are not in rest, notably genetics, which after the transgressions of the lyssenkisme, turns to the deciphering of the human genome (jobs of the geneticist Kisselev). After all is said and done, with more than 5 % GDPS dedicated to the research, and more than 2 million researchers, USSR could claim of having the one
the highest scientific potentials in the world.
In the decade of riot and of anarchy which followed the collapse of USSR, scientific research saw its budget being reduced in a drastic way. Between 1991 and 1996, the part of the GDP dedicated to research was so divided by five, passing from 25 thousand million dollars to 5 thousand millions. As comparison, the same year the United States spent more than 200 thousand million dollars on R&D. At the same time, the wage of the researchers was divided by four. In these conditions, they understand the phenomenon of brain drain which occurred at the beginning of the nineties, achieving up to 20 000 researchers a year, and benefiting mainly in the United States. To frustrate this tendency, Institutes and Research centres multiplied agreements of collaboration very azimuths with foreign partners. If it allowed to raise
financially these Institutes, this collaboration often ended in a selling off cheap of collected scientific potential, in a context of legal fuzziness and of decline of the State. To it is added the absence of a true policy in intellectual property, and not enough sensitisation of the researchers in these questions.
The other big drama of Russian science is its weak level of technological and commercial promotion. Indeed, the great majority Research institutes was cut of the industry civil and gathered in closed scientific cities. For their part, the industrial firms were not encouraged in innovation due to the absence of competition and of the centralisation of strategical decisions (launching of new
produced) at a ministerial level. They contented therefore themselves with filling Plan in purely quantitative terms without being concerned about improvements to be brought in products.
Today even, barely 10 % industrial firms have a true research department and development. There is not either market in Russia
for Russian technologies, firms often preferring mattering at the price strong in Western technologies which they consider more advanced and more reliable.
Facing this frightening situation, the Russian authorities began reacting only late. It is only in 1998, when is launched a national programme of support of research and innovation, but it will be necessary to wait for the coming to power of Vladimir Putin in January, 2000 so that scientific research finds a semblance of consideration. In 2001, is created a High Scientific Council put to the President, composed of personalities of high level such as the Nobel prize of physical appearance Zores Alf rov. In 2002, the budget of the Academy of sciences is augmented by 30 %, announcing the implementation
of a federal programme intended to multiply by five the budget of research on the horizon 2010. An objective which stays however very on this side of European or Japanese levels.
The future of Russian science passes undoubtedly by increase on behalf of the financing deprived of research, establishment of partnerships and of synergies with other countries (of which France), as well as by massive investments in the sectors of High Technologies, only in even to assure a potential growth raised in Russian economy on long term.
Article writes by Alexander Kateb
Origin: Seen again Objective is / beginning on 2003
Written by admin one June 19th, on 2006 with no comments.
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