Mikhail Piotrovsky: Academic DNA originated in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg’s academicians lost their autonomy as a result of reforms in 2013. Prior to that, there was the Research Centre of the RAS that was headed by Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, an infrastructure and autonomy. All of that “evaporated”. Zhores Ivanovich tried for many years to create some sort of new format so as to obtain independence. During his lifetime, that was not fully achieved. The Academy’s previous leadership received a document from the country’s President supporting the creation of a subdivision of the RAS in Saint Petersburg.

For Petersburgers, the issue is clear and very important, but it is not something everyone can understand. For several years, there was controversy over the matter, within the Academy as well. People were saying: “Why do you need a branch? If one is created in Saint Petersburg, why not elsewhere?” We responded by pointing out that there are 200 members of the Academy in our city – more than in Siberia, in the Far East and in the Urals, where there are branches, there are many institutes and a splendid heritage of great scientists.

There is also a particular reason. The year 2024 will see the 300th anniversary of the Academy of Sciences. It was created by Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg. It is here that the distinct academic style arose that unites such words as Kunstkammer, Pushkin House, Asiatic Museum (the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts) and the building that Quarenghi built for the Academy. The system of the Russian Academy of Sciences was created in Saint Petersburg.

The outstanding ideologist and organizer of science Sergei Feodorovich Oldenburg managed to organize relations between the Academy and those in power in such a way that the Soviet Academy of Science emerged. A unique institution was created that did a great deal for the breakthrough of Russian science, economics and all the rest. Amazing experience was accumulated that ensured the Academy’s success and reputation. A reputation that it is losing.

Everyone acknowledges that the Academy is in a crisis from which it needs to emerge. One of the means is the creation of branches resembling the centre that used to exist in Saint Petersburg. It is here that the DNA for the Academy of which we are proud was formed, as was that level to which we want to return. It was long considered that Moscow and Saint Petersburg are a “double-headed eagle”, one living organism. They have a common centre and administration, that’s enough. One head gradually “withered away”. There is no living connection, no flow of blood. That needs to be regenerated.

There are many people of science in Saint Petersburg that need to be coordinated, yet they do not even have anywhere to gather for scientific councils and sessions. The celebrated building of the Academy of Sciences exists as a separate scholarly institution. There is no sense of a single community, of the continuation of the Saint Petersburg tradition. A breakthrough is being made at the junction of coordination between different fields of learning. Physics combines not just with biology, but also with physiology, linguistics, art studies, and many other areas. We need to have a central base for the fields to interact between themselves. It is important that the city as well feels the presence of the academic community. Saint Petersburg should know that it has an advisor, an expert, a generator of fundamental ideas, that specialist appraisal of different decisions is available. If that is absent, the prestige of the Academy diminishes. The prestige of Leningrad-Petersburg academic scholarship seems not to exist right now, because it is not united.

The idea of forming a regional branch was born out of arguments. Work lies ahead. Some sort of association should be formed of people who will participate in accomplishing tasks highly important for science today, making use of existing achievements. In Saint Petersburg there have always been many achievements in the humanities.

The humanities are the basis for the development of the human race in the 21st century. Uniting the humanities and fundamental sciences can create a new model for relations between people in the modern world. We need to conceive a multipolar world with different values, with a dialogue of cultures. To interpret afresh the image of Russia and Russian history…

There are many questions that politicians cannot resolve and artificial intelligence is not capable of resolving. They should be resolved by academic learning.

Our city has had some splendid achievements in recent times. A new building for the archives of the Academy of Sciences has been built ads is starting to function. A restoration is being planned for the Kunstkammer that will house a museum-and-research complex. The Kunstkammer is a good example of the combination of a museum, scholarship in the humanities and scientific study. Great things have been achieved by Saint Petersburg archaeologists who are conducting excavations from Ryazan to Tuva. There are new studies in Russian history relating to the Civil War…

To tackle major tasks, you need to have a concentration of scientific resources in places where researchers are present, coordination between the humanities, fundamental science and university learning. Each has its own specifics. They combine. All of that has to be demonstrated through the example of the Saint Petersburg branch, which, evidently, is destined to determine the course of development.

It feels as if Saint Petersburg is capable of developing the academic code that was laid down here. Our city has examples of branches of learning that are close to me coming together. The Hermitage is creating a school of the arts in conjunction with the European University. The new school with new methods of teaching, new approaches and an orientation on modern museums. One of the main things in that school is expanded interest in scientific research. Laboratories are being created for the study of human genetics and artificial intelligence. Each has its own tasks. Not only art historians and museum specialists will teach there, but also cyberneticists and geneticists, who know what artificial intelligence and genetic codes are. The will carry out research in the humanities. One of the tasks that may be resolved in Saint Petersburg is the combination of sciences and arts.

An important characteristic that also distinguishes Saint Petersburg is a presence in various places I am used to building everything employing Hermitage templates. Hermitage Days have just taken place in Irkutsk. In Vladikavkaz, an exhibition opened as part of the Hermitage Days there. There are always lectures and donations of books. Hermitage Days are coming up in Omsk, Grozny, Vladivostok, Nakhodka and Kazan. All because there is a concentration and a well-established pattern of Saint Petersburg's presence in different parts of the country.

It is impossible not to mention the archaeological discoveries. A Hermitage archaeological expedition in the Crimea this season found a hoard of gold coins from the time of Alexander the Great. In Tuva, Hermitage archaeologists uncovered a burial site from the dawn of the Scythian culture with gold plaques and torcs in it. The present times are such that people immediately ask what will happen next? They came in and took it away? We do not take anything. The Crimean artefacts have been transferred to the Kerch Museum. They will be studied where they were found and will enrich the museum's collection, compensating, to some extent, the temporary loss of the exhibits that have become stuck in Amsterdam and are not being returned.

As for the Tuvan finds, they have been brought to us for restoration. An agreement has been signed under which the Hermitage will restore and study those items. They belong to Tuva and will be exhibited in the wonderful museum that has been built there. It was constructed after the discovery of the Scythian burial in the Arzhan tumulus in 2001. At that time, the objects were restored, but there was no museum in Tuva where they could be kept and displayed. Now there is a stunning museum, with good security.

The world is multipolar. We are on the threshold of new discoveries. It is possible to look back and build new models, which will promote the concentration and efficiency of work and the spread of experience from Saint Petersburg around the country.

Saint Petersburg is a kind of conductor for the multipolarity of learning, based on distinctive Saint Petersburg traditions. Not everyone likes it when we talk about them. But it can't be helped – we all have our own traditions, even mathematicians have different styles. Diversity is beautiful. To make it work effectively and benefit the nation, there is a lot of work to be done.

This material was published in the Sankt-Petersburgskie Vedomosti newspaper, №181 (7264) on 28 September 2022 with the headline “Academic DNA originated in Saint Petersburg”.