Science and technology in the Soviet Union
Encyclopedia
In the Soviet Union
, science
and technology
served as an important part of national politics
, practices, and identity. From the time of Lenin until the dissolution of the USSR in the early 1990s, both science and technology were intimately linked to the ideology and practical functioning of the Soviet state, and were pursued along paths both similar and distinct from models in other countries. Many great scientists, who worked in Imperial Russia (like, e.g. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
), continued to work in the USSR and gave birth to Soviet science.
Marked by a highly developed pure science and innovation at the theoretical level, interpretation and application fell short. Biology
, chemistry
, materials science
, mathematics
, and physics
, were fields in which Soviet citizens have excelled. Science was emphasized at all levels of education, and very large numbers of engineer
s graduated every year.
The Soviet government made the development and advancement of science a national priority and showered top scientists with honours. Although the sciences were less rigorously censored than other fields such as art, there were several examples of suppression of ideas
. In the most notorious, agronomist
Trofim Lysenko
refused to accept the chromosome
theory of heredity usually accepted by modern genetics
. Claiming his theories corresponded to Marxism
, he managed to talk Joseph Stalin
in 1948 into banning population genetics
and several other related fields of biological research; this decision was only reversed in the 1960s.
Soviet scientists won acclaim in several fields. They were at the cutting edge of science in fields such as mathematics
and in several branches of physical science
, notably theoretical nuclear physics
, chemistry, and astronomy
. The physical chemist and physicist
Nikolay Semenov was the first Soviet citizen to win a Nobel Prize
, in 1956 among several other Soviet Nobel Prize winners.
Soviet technology was most highly developed in the fields of nuclear physics
, where the arms race with the West
convinced policy makers to set aside sufficient resources for research. Due to a crash program directed by Igor Kurchatov
, the Soviet Union was the second nation to develop an atomic bomb, in 1949, four years after the United States
. The Soviet Union detonated a hydrogen bomb in 1953, a mere ten months after the United States
. Space exploration
was also highly developed: in October 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite
, Sputnik 1
, into orbit
; in April 1961 a Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin
, became the first man in space. The Soviets maintained a strong space program until economic problems led to cutbacks in the 1980s.
The core of fundamental science was the USSR Academy of Sciences, originally set up in 1725 and moved from Leningrad
to Moscow
in 1934. It consisted of 250 research institutes and 60,500 full-time researchers in 1987, a large percentage in the natural sciences such as biology
.
All all of the union's republics except the RSFSR had their own republican academies of science, while the Urals, Siberian, and Far Eastern regional branches of the academy coordinated fundamental science in Eastern Russia.
Medical research was coordinated by the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences
(Академия медицинских наук СССР), which after 1992 was reorganized into the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (Российская академия медицинских наук).
Agricultural research was organized under the aegis of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the Soviet Union
.
, was demonstrated to be false, it took many years for criticism of it to become acceptable.
.
. After the death of Stalin, Stalin Prize was renamed the USSR State Prize
, and the new Lenin Prize
became the top award.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
served as an important part of national politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, practices, and identity. From the time of Lenin until the dissolution of the USSR in the early 1990s, both science and technology were intimately linked to the ideology and practical functioning of the Soviet state, and were pursued along paths both similar and distinct from models in other countries. Many great scientists, who worked in Imperial Russia (like, e.g. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky was an Imperial Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory. Along with his followers the German Hermann Oberth and the American Robert H. Goddard, he is considered to be one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics...
), continued to work in the USSR and gave birth to Soviet science.
Marked by a highly developed pure science and innovation at the theoretical level, interpretation and application fell short. Biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, materials science
Materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...
, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, and physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, were fields in which Soviet citizens have excelled. Science was emphasized at all levels of education, and very large numbers of engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
s graduated every year.
The Soviet government made the development and advancement of science a national priority and showered top scientists with honours. Although the sciences were less rigorously censored than other fields such as art, there were several examples of suppression of ideas
Suppressed research in the Soviet Union
Suppressed research in the Soviet Union refers to scientific fields which were banned in the Soviet Union, usually for ideological reasons. Science and humanities were placed under a strict ideological scrutiny in the Soviet Union. All research was to be founded on the philosophy of dialectical...
. In the most notorious, agronomist
Agronomist
An agronomist is a scientist who specializes in agronomy, which is the science of utilizing plants for food, fuel, feed, and fiber. An agronomist is an expert in agricultural and allied sciences, with the exception veterinary sciences.Agronomists deal with interactions between plants, soils, and...
Trofim Lysenko
Trofim Lysenko
Trofim Denisovich Lysenko was a Soviet agronomist of Ukrainian origin, who was director of Soviet biology under Joseph Stalin. Lysenko rejected Mendelian genetics in favor of the hybridization theories of Russian horticulturist Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin, and adopted them into a powerful...
refused to accept the chromosome
Chromosome
A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein found in cells. It is a single piece of coiled DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and other nucleotide sequences. Chromosomes also contain DNA-bound proteins, which serve to package the DNA and control its functions.Chromosomes...
theory of heredity usually accepted by modern genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
. Claiming his theories corresponded to Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, he managed to talk Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
in 1948 into banning population genetics
Population genetics
Population genetics is the study of allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four main evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes into account the factors of recombination, population subdivision and population...
and several other related fields of biological research; this decision was only reversed in the 1960s.
Soviet scientists won acclaim in several fields. They were at the cutting edge of science in fields such as mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and in several branches of physical science
Physical science
Physical science is an encompassing term for the branches of natural science and science that study non-living systems, in contrast to the life sciences...
, notably theoretical nuclear physics
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
, chemistry, and astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
. The physical chemist and physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
Nikolay Semenov was the first Soviet citizen to win a Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
, in 1956 among several other Soviet Nobel Prize winners.
Soviet technology was most highly developed in the fields of nuclear physics
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
, where the arms race with the West
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
convinced policy makers to set aside sufficient resources for research. Due to a crash program directed by Igor Kurchatov
Igor Kurchatov
Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov , was a Soviet nuclear physicist who is widely known as the director of the Soviet atomic bomb project. Along with Georgy Flyorov and Andrei Sakharov, Kurchatov is widely remembered and dubbed as the "father of the Soviet atomic bomb" for his directorial role in the...
, the Soviet Union was the second nation to develop an atomic bomb, in 1949, four years after the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The Soviet Union detonated a hydrogen bomb in 1953, a mere ten months after the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Space exploration
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
was also highly developed: in October 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
, Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 ) was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1s success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space...
, into orbit
Orbit
In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
; in April 1961 a Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....
, became the first man in space. The Soviets maintained a strong space program until economic problems led to cutbacks in the 1980s.
Organization
Unlike some Western countries, most of the research work in the USSR was conducted not at universities, but at specially set up research institutes. The more prestigious of them were parts of the USSR Academy of Sciences; others were within the system of specialized academies, or the research arms of various government ministries.The core of fundamental science was the USSR Academy of Sciences, originally set up in 1725 and moved from Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1934. It consisted of 250 research institutes and 60,500 full-time researchers in 1987, a large percentage in the natural sciences such as biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
.
All all of the union's republics except the RSFSR had their own republican academies of science, while the Urals, Siberian, and Far Eastern regional branches of the academy coordinated fundamental science in Eastern Russia.
Medical research was coordinated by the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences
USSR Academy of Medical Sciences
The USSR Academy of Medical Sciences is the highest scientific and medical organization founded in the Soviet Union in 1944.Its successor is the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences founded in 1992....
(Академия медицинских наук СССР), which after 1992 was reorganized into the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (Российская академия медицинских наук).
Agricultural research was organized under the aegis of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the Soviet Union
VASKhNIL
VASKhNIL was the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the Soviet Union...
.
Scientific Research Institutions (NII)
A large part of research was conducted in NIIs — "scientific research institutions" . There have been a great number of NIIs, each specialized in a particular field.- Ioffe Physico-Technical InstituteIoffe Physico-Technical InstituteIoffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences is one of Russia's largest research centers specialized in physics and technology. The institute was established in 1918 in Petrograd and run for several decades by Abram Fedorovich Ioffe...
founded 1918 - Institute of Anthropology and EthnographyInstitute of Anthropology and EthnographyThe Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography or N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology is a Russian institute of research, specializing in ethnographic studies of cultural and physical anthropology...
founded 1933 - Institute for Physical ProblemsInstitute for Physical ProblemsP.L. Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Institute was founded in 1934. The founder of the Institute, Prof. Kapitsa served as its head for many years. The head of the theoretical division of the Institute was Prof. Landau. The primary direction of...
founded 1934 - Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology founded 1946
- Institute of Radio-engineering and Electronics founded 1954
- Joint Institute for Nuclear ResearchJoint Institute for Nuclear ResearchThe Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, JINR , in Dubna, Moscow Oblast , Russia, is an international research centre for nuclear sciences, with 5500 staff members, 1200 researchers including 1000 Ph.D.s from eighteen member states The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, JINR , in Dubna, Moscow...
founded 1956
Ideological restrictions on science
On August 7, 1948, the V.I. Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences announced that from that point on Lamarckian inheritance, the theory that personality traits acquired during life are passed on to offspring, would be taught as "the only correct theory". Soviet scientists were forced to redact prior work, and even after this ideology, known as LysenkoismLysenkoism
Lysenkoism, or Lysenko-Michurinism, also denotes the biological inheritance principle which Trofim Lysenko subscribed to and which derive from theories of the heritability of acquired characteristics, a body of biological inheritance theory which departs from Mendelism and that Lysenko named...
, was demonstrated to be false, it took many years for criticism of it to become acceptable.
Soviet Nobel Prize winners in science
The following Soviet scientists were recipients of a Nobel prizeNobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
.
Physics
- 1958 Pavel Cherenkov, Ilya FrankIlya FrankIlya Mikhailovich Frank was a Soviet winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1958 jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Igor Y. Tamm, also of the Soviet Union. He received the award for his work in explaining the phenomenon of Cherenkov radiation...
and Igor TammIgor TammIgor Yevgenyevich Tamm was a Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate who received most prestigious Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Ilya Frank, for the discovery of Cherenkov radiation, made in 1934.-Biography:Tamm was born in Vladivostok, Russian Empire , in a...
"for the discovery and interpretation of the Cherenkov effect" - 1962 Lev LandauLev LandauLev Davidovich Landau was a prominent Soviet physicist who made fundamental contributions to many areas of theoretical physics...
"for his theories about condensed matter, particularly about liquid helium (superfluidity)" - 1964 Nikolay BasovNikolay BasovNikolay Gennadiyevich Basov was a Soviet physicist and educator. For his fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics that led to the development of laser and maser, Basov shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics with Alexander Prokhorov and Charles Hard Townes.-Early life:Basov was born in...
and Aleksandr ProkhorovAleksandr Mikhailovich ProkhorovAlexander Mikhaylovich Prokhorov was a Russian physicist known for his pioneering research on lasers and masers for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1964 with Charles Hard Townes and Nikolay Basov....
"for fundamental work in the area of the quantum electronics, which led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers on the basis of the maser laser principle" - 1978 Pyotr KapitsaPyotr KapitsaPyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa was a prominent Soviet/Russian physicist and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Kapitsa was born in the city of Kronstadt and graduated from the Petrograd Polytechnical Institute in 1918. He worked for over ten years with Ernest Rutherford in the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge...
"for his fundamental inventions and discoveries in the Cryophysics" - 2001 Zhores Alferov (RU) "for the development of semiconductor heterostructures for high-speed and optoelectronics" (working in the time of the USSR)
- 2003 Alexei AbrikosovAlexei Alexeyevich AbrikosovAlexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov is a Soviet and Russian theoretical physicist whose main contributions are in the field of condensed matter physics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003.- Biography :...
(RU), Vitaly GinzburgVitaly GinzburgVitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg ForMemRS was a Soviet theoretical physicist, astrophysicist, Nobel laureate, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and one of the fathers of Soviet hydrogen bomb...
(RU) "for innovative work in the theory about superconductors" (working in the time of the USSR) - 2010 Andre GeimAndre GeimAndre Konstantin Geim, FRS is a Dutch-Russian-British physicist working at the University of Manchester. Geim was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Konstantin Novoselov for his work on graphene...
and Konstantin NovoselovKonstantin NovoselovKonstantin Sergeevich Novoselov FRS is a Russo-British physicist, most notably known for his works on graphene together with Andre Geim, which earned them the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. Novoselov is currently a member of the mesoscopic physics research group at the University of Manchester as...
"for discovery of two-dimensional material Graphene" (born in the USSR, working in England)
Chemistry
- 1956 Nikolai Semenov For outstanding work on the mechanism of chemical transformation includes an exhaustive analysis of the application of the chain theory to varied reactions (1934–1954) and, more significantly, to combustion processes. He proposed a theory of degenerate branching, which led to a better understanding of the phenomena associated with the induction periods of oxidation processes.
National Prizes
The most prestigious government prize awarded for achievements in science and technology was originally the Stalin PrizeUSSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....
. After the death of Stalin, Stalin Prize was renamed the USSR State Prize
USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....
, and the new Lenin Prize
Lenin Prize
The Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
became the top award.
See also
- Science and technology in RussiaScience and technology in RussiaScience and technology in Russia developed rapidly since the Age of Enlightenment, when Peter the Great founded the Russian Academy of Sciences and Saint Petersburg State University and polymath Mikhail Lomonosov founded the Moscow State University, establishing a strong native tradition in...
- Soviet scientists
- Soviet explorers
- Soviet cosmonauts
- Soviet inventors
- Soviet inventions
- Suppressed research in the Soviet UnionSuppressed research in the Soviet UnionSuppressed research in the Soviet Union refers to scientific fields which were banned in the Soviet Union, usually for ideological reasons. Science and humanities were placed under a strict ideological scrutiny in the Soviet Union. All research was to be founded on the philosophy of dialectical...
- SharashkaSharashkaSharashka was an informal name for secret research and development laboratories in the Soviet Gulag labor camp system...
- Soviet Antarctic ExpeditionSoviet Antarctic ExpeditionThe Soviet Antarctic Expedition was part of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of the Soviet Committee on Antarctic Research of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR....