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The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientif…
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The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; Russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к, РАН, romanized: Rossiyskaya akademiya nauk, RAN) consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such as libraries, publishing units, and hospitals. Peter the Great established the academy (then the St.
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such as libraries, publishing units, and hospitals. Peter the Great established the academy in 1724 with guidance from Gottfried Leibniz.
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; Russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к, РАН, romanized: Rossiyskaya akademiya nauk, RAN) consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such as libraries, publishing units, and hospitals. Peter the Great established the academy (then the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences) in 1724 with guidance from Gottfried Leibniz.
From its establishment, the academy benefited from a slate of foreign scholars as professors; the academy then gained its first clear set of goals from the 1747 Charter. The academy functioned as a university and research center throughout the mid-18th century until the university was dissolved, leaving research as the main pillar of the institution. The rest of the 18th century continuing on through the 19th century consisted of many published academic works from Academy scholars and a few Academy name changes, ending as The Imperial Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences right before the Soviet period.
Now headquartered in Moscow, the academy (RAS) is a non-profit organization established in the form of a federal state budgetary institution chartered by the Government of Russia. In 2013, the Russian government restructured RAS, assigning control of its property and research institutes to a new government agency headed by Mikhail Kotyukov. As of November 2017, the academy included 1,008 institutions and other units; in total, about 125,000 people were employed of whom 47,000 were scientific researchers.
There are three types of membership in the RAS: full members (academicians), corresponding members, and foreign members. Academicians and corresponding members must be citizens of the Russian Federation when elected; however, some academicians and corresponding members were elected before the collapse of the USSR and are now citizens of other countries. Members of RAS are elected based on their scientific contributions – election to membership is considered very prestigious.
In the years 2005–2012, the academy had approximately 500 full and 700 corresponding members. In 2013, after the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences became incorporated into the RAS, a number of the RAS members accordingly increased. The last elections to the renewed Russian Academy of Sciences were organized on May 26–30, 2025.
As of January 2, 2026, the academy had 1960 living Russian members (full: 841, corresponding: 1119) and about 445 foreign members. Since 2015, the academy also awards, on a competitive basis, the honorary scientific rank of a RAS Professor to the top-level researchers with Russian citizenship; there are 797 scientists with this rank. RAS professorship is not a membership type but its holders are considered as possible candidates for membership; some professors became members already in 2016, 2019, 2022 or 2025 and are henceforth titled "RAS professor, corresponding member of the RAS" (188 scientists) or even "RAS professor, academician of the RAS" (31 scientists).
Source: Russian Academy of Sciences (CC BY-SA)
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The Academy is headquartered in Moscow at the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences (built between 1967 and 1990).
The RAS consists of 13 specialized scientific divisions, four territorial branches and 15 regional scientific centers. The system of scientific divisions will soon be changed by splitting or fusion of the existing ones. The academy has numerous councils, committees, and commissions, all organized for different purposes.
Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS)
The Siberian Branch was established in 1957, with Mikhail Lavrentyev as founding chairman. Research centers are in Novosibirsk (Akademgorodok), Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Ulan-Ude, Kemerovo, Tyumen and Omsk. The Branch employes over 12,500 scientific researchers, 199 of whom are now members of the Academy (126 full + 73 corresponding).
Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (UB RAS)
The Ural Branch was established in 1932, with Alexander Fersman as its founding chairman. Research centers are in Yekaterinburg, Perm, Cheliabinsk, Izhevsk, Orenburg, Ufa and Syktyvkar. Presently, 113 Ural scientists were members of the Academy (38 full + 75 corresponding).
St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPbB RAS)
The St. Petersburg Branch was established in 2023. As of October 16, 2026, 178 scientists from St. Petersburg were members of the Academy (66 full + 112 corresponding).
Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FEB RAS)
The Far East Branch includes the Primorsky Scientific Center in Vladivostok, the Amur Scientific Center in Blagoveschensk, the Khabarovsk Scientific Center, the Sakhalin Scientific Center in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the Kamchatka Scientific Center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the North-Eastern Scientific Center in Magadan, the Far East Regional Agriculture Center in Ussuriysk and several Medical institutions. There are 71 Academy members in the Branch (24 full + 47 corresponding).
The Russian Academy of Sciences comprises a large number of research institutions, including:
Member institutions are linked via a dedicated Russian Space Science Internet (RSSI). Started with just three members, The RSSI now has 3,100 members, including 57 from the largest research institutions. Russian universities and technical institutes are not under the supervision of the RAS (they are subordinated to the
