Translated material
Looking up to Grisha Perelman
Vladimir Putin does not promise the Academy of Sciences much financial support
The final annual general meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences took place yesterday. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin spoke as the main invited guest. The head of government tried to encourage academics to work more actively for the benefit of Russia, promising them mainly material benefits, although not on a particularly large scale. In turn, the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yuri Osipov, in his speech spoke more about the status and attitude towards science both from society and from the state.In his speech, the prime minister could not help but talk about the crisis: “Even in the context of the global economic crisis, we did not revise our strategic goals. And, of course, we are not abandoning them now, when the acute phase of the crisis has, I hope, been overcome, and the economy is gradually returning to a trajectory of sustainable growth.” The main strategic goal is “large-scale modernization of key sectors of Russian industry and the social sphere, which should ultimately ensure an increase in the standard of living of citizens and the efficiency of the economy.”
Vladimir Putin reminded scientists about government projects that should receive large-scale scientific support: energy saving, space, nuclear, medical and information technologies. To achieve this, the state provides financial support to the scientists themselves - 1.1 trillion rubles. for all areas of science and education in 2010, of which 49.3 billion directly for financing the RAS. “Of course, the Russian Academy of Sciences and domestic science as a whole cannot remain aloof from work on the modernization agenda,” the prime minister expressed his wishes. And he backed it up with the usual compliment: “We highly appreciate the achievements of the Russian Academy.”
But Mr. Putin hinted that academic science should not expect exceptional conditions. “Today we are setting strict demands on our industry, business, education system, and other basic social and economic institutions,” the head of government set the same demands in the mildest possible form yesterday to academicians. Vladimir Putin did not insist on the exclusive priority of applied research over fundamental research. But he made it clear that it is in the interests of economics and science to ensure maximum efficiency of any research: “The requirements for constant updating and increased efficiency are, by and large, a matter of our national perspective.” The head of the federal government took the liberty of advising exactly how academicians should organize their work to solve the assigned tasks - they need to resort to independent examinations of the activities of scientific organizations and, based on the results of such assessments, “draw financial, and possibly organizational conclusions, redistribute funds from weak ones.” teams to strong ones, and, if necessary, reorganize scientific organizations.” But all this is for the benefit of the scientists themselves: “Ultimately, the goal of all these transformations is for specialists working in the RAS system, in Russian science as a whole, to feel in demand, to see a professional perspective and an opportunity for self-realization.”
Mr. Putin touched upon such a sensitive topic for academic science as its interaction with educational and research structures: “We count on the active, interested participation of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the work of federal and national research universities.” According to the head of government, “it is important that scientific work in the centers being created is at the proper level from the very beginning.”
In conclusion, the head of government tried to appease each academician personally, turning to a purely material topic: “Together we are looking for solutions to those problems that concern the scientific community and the academy staff. The pilot project on wages in the RAS system has been completed, and now its average amount exceeds 30 thousand rubles, and in leading scientific institutes this figure is much higher. Another pressing issue is the provision of housing.” The Prime Minister said that one of the ways to solve this problem could be the allocation of land plots under the jurisdiction of the Academy of Sciences for housing construction. At the same time, the state intends to burden the future developer with obligations to sell part of the apartments to academy employees at low, affordable prices. Mr. Putin named an approximate guideline - 30 thousand rubles. per square meter. At this moment, the hall began to roar: apparently, academics have different ideas about the affordable price of housing.
President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Osipov began his report by listing the most significant achievements of scientists over the past year. At first, it seemed that Mr. Osipov would not be able to convince Vladimir Putin of the practical importance of science for the country; the works named by the academician were too specific. But little by little, the president of the academy turned to an understandable topic - the creation of femtosecond optical clocks was useful for GLONASS, the longest superconducting cable was clearly needed by industry, mapping mining and oil and gas resources could not but interest the raw materials sector, which was close to the prime minister’s heart.
Yuri Osipov still managed to draw attention to science as a business partner, but this was not the main goal of his speech. The head of the RAS considered the main problem for academicians to be the disdainful attitude towards modern Russian science on the part of society (“there is an opinion that we don’t have science now”), business (“we need to stimulate not only the supply of scientific developments, but also the demand for them”), regulating administrative structures (“the state does not trust us, it constantly checks the distribution of funds”, “research institutes are not financial and economic superstructures over laboratories, but an important link in the organization of large projects”).
Mr. Osipov allowed himself to speak disapprovingly of the government's initiative to concentrate efforts and funds on areas of research in which there is already some progress. Although the Prime Minister himself spoke about this in the hall of the Russian Academy of Sciences. According to the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, on the contrary, it is necessary to cover the widest possible branches of scientific knowledge.
Vladimir Putin could not leave such a heartfelt speech without comment, however, bypassing the sharp corners, the prime minister only supported the statement about the need to stimulate business to the practical use of scientific achievements: “We are also talking about the effectiveness of the developments themselves, we are talking about their quality, but we are also talking about about the receptivity of the state and the economy to the implementation of these developments.”
“When I served in another department (KGB of the USSR. - Ed. ), back in my past life, we had a moment, somewhere in the late 80s, when both our developments and the developments of your colleagues obtained with special means from abroad were not introduced into the economy of the Soviet Union,” the prime minister recalled. “And so we worked and worked in this field, mined and mined, but there was no point,” the head of government continued to share his memories. “We asked: “Where? In economics - where? No, it was impossible to implement.”
“We need money for this, right,” the head of government agreed with the academics’ remark that less is still spent on science than in developed countries. And then I found a counterargument. “But the famous Grisha Perelman (St. Petersburg mathematician who was the first to prove the Poincaré conjecture - Ed. ) took it and published it on the Internet and signed it - Grisha Perelman. He even refuses money. So we are trying to him somehow... but he doesn’t take them,” Vladimir Putin either complained or set the Russian Academy of Sciences as an example of one of the most famous Russian scientists in the world, although not an academician. “It is important to concentrate the resources we have on the main areas, the breakthrough ones.” Don’t spread them, as they say, “in a thin layer over the bread so that you can’t even see the butter,” the head of government clearly disagreed with the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Finally, Vladimir Putin once again turned to personal experience, advising academicians to be calmer about criticism: “You know, I think that each of us, from the moment of birth to the funeral service, is always criticized - I have been criticized so much over the past ten years that I I'm tired of reacting to this. This is life - the more significant work we do, the more criticism we receive,” the prime minister noted philosophically. “This is not bad, that’s why there are one fish in the river, so that the other doesn’t doze off. But there are, of course, noteworthy critics. You also need to take this calmly, Academician Laverov said that there is even a drug that you invented that stimulates brain activity. Well, give these critics this drug - maybe they will calm down a little.”