National Academies Press: OpenBook

Scientists, Engineers, and Track-Two Diplomacy: A Half-Century of U.S.-Russian Interacademy Cooperation (2004)

Chapter: Appendix A Highlights of Early U.S.-Soviet Scientific Relations (17251957)

« Previous: APPENDIXES
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Highlights of Early U.S.-Soviet Scientific Relations (17251957)." National Research Council. 2004. Scientists, Engineers, and Track-Two Diplomacy: A Half-Century of U.S.-Russian Interacademy Cooperation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10888.
×
Page 101
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Highlights of Early U.S.-Soviet Scientific Relations (17251957)." National Research Council. 2004. Scientists, Engineers, and Track-Two Diplomacy: A Half-Century of U.S.-Russian Interacademy Cooperation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10888.
×
Page 102
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A Highlights of Early U.S.-Soviet Scientific Relations (17251957)." National Research Council. 2004. Scientists, Engineers, and Track-Two Diplomacy: A Half-Century of U.S.-Russian Interacademy Cooperation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10888.
×
Page 103

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

Appendix A Highlights of Early U.S.-Soviet Scientific Relations (1725–1957) 1725–1775 — Mikhail Lomonosov, founder of Moscow State Univer- sity, and Benjamin Franklin gain recognition as the fathers of U.S.-Russian scientific relations. 1775–1800 — Literature is exchanged between Russian and American scientific societies. — Individual scientists begin to correspond. — American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia and Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg elect honorary foreign members. 1800–1860 — First scientific exchange visits are held. — American scientists travel to Russia to learn about explorations of Siberia and the Arctic Sea. — Russian mathematicians, naturalists, and linguists attract the attention of American scientists. — Systematic contacts develop as university networks and specialized scientific research centers emerge. — Astronomy school is founded in Russia, and Pulkovo Observatory attracts American physicists and astrono- mers to spend extended periods working in Russia. 1860–1870 — U.S.-Russian ties in astronomy grow. 1865 — U.S. optical firm, Alvin and Company, constructs a large telescope-refractor for the Pulkovo Observatory. 101

102 APPENDIX A 1860–1870 — American scientists conduct expeditions in northeastern Siberia and the Far East. 1872–1876 — Russian geographer A. Voevakova visits the United States to research its northern and southern parts. 1876 — D. I. Mendeleev, a chemist and founder of the periodic table, visits an industrial exhibit in Philadelphia. 1876–1900 — Frequent reciprocal visits are made by U.S. and Russian scientists. 1890s — International Geological Congresses stimulate increased ties between American and Russian geologists. Pre-1917 — The original school of physiological research of I. P. Pavlov resulted in many ties in the field of physiology. Many American followers of Pavlov emerge and make numerous visits to Russia. Post-1917 — Strained relations reduce regular contacts between Soviet and American scientists. — American scientists assist in recovery from the devastation during the October Revolution. 1922 — The National Academy of Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution send scientific literature to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Early 1920s — Ties between American and Soviet societies and indi- vidual scientists are renewed, and normal prewar corre- spondence resumes. — Reciprocal visits are reactivated despite lack of diplomatic relations. — Soviet scientists I. P. Pavlov, V. I. Vernadsky, N. A. Maksimov, N. I. Vavilov, A. F. Ioffe, and P. S. Aleksandrov visit the United States. — American scientists become interested in Soviet develop- ments in the physiological and agrobiological sciences. 1928–1930 — American scientists conduct a zoological expedition in the Soviet Union. 1932–1933 — American scientists conduct archaeological excavations in the Soviet Union. 1930s — Herman J. Muller, an American geneticist, spends an extended period in the Soviet Union. Post–WWII — Substantive contacts come to a complete end. Late 1940s — Attempts are made to renew scientific contacts.

APPENDIX A 103 — Ideological conflicts cause cooperation to be short-lived. Early 1950s — Contacts begin to be restored. 1956 — Many American scientists take part in a conference on high-energy physics in the Soviet Union. 1957 — Turning point is reached in U.S.-Soviet scientific relations. 1956–1957 — Both countries receive about 50 scientists representing various fields. Source: Information originally provided by Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Adapted from NRC (1990b: 10).

Next: Appendix B Agreement on the Exchange of Scientists between the National Academy of Sciences of the USA and the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1959) »
Scientists, Engineers, and Track-Two Diplomacy: A Half-Century of U.S.-Russian Interacademy Cooperation Get This Book
×
Buy Hardback | $53.00 Buy Ebook | $42.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

This report is intended to provide a brief historical perspective of the evolution of the interacademy program during the past half-century, recognizing that many legacies of the Soviet era continue to influence government approaches in Moscow and Washington and to shape the attitudes of researchers toward bilateral cooperation in both countries (of special interest is the changing character of the program during the age of perestroika (restructuring) in the late 1980s in the Soviet Union); to describe in some detail the significant interacademy activities from late 1991, when the Soviet Union fragmented, to mid-2003; and to set forth lessons learned about the benefits and limitations of interacademy cooperation and to highlight approaches that have been successful in overcoming difficulties of implementation.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!