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PHJ № 3 (51) – E. Yu. Basargina. A BOOK DONATED BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON TO THE USSR ACADEMY OF SCIENCES IN MEMORY OF ISAAC NEWTON’ TERCENTENARY

Based on archival documents, the article reconstructs the events of I. Newton’s 300th anniversary, which occurred on the Second World War. In the USSR, the anniversary of the English genius became a significant event in both scientific and political life. The Soviet government used the scientific celebration for propaganda purposes, as a political message to the Allies to urge them to rid humanity of German fascism as soon as possible through the victory of the arms of the allied and united countries. In gratitude for the widespread commemoration of the great English scientist in the USSR, the Royal Society of London presented the USSR Academy of Sciences with a copy of the first edition of I. Newton’s book “Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica” (1687), which is currently kept in the St. Petersburg branch of the RAS Archives. The book has a donation inscription and signatures of members of the Council of the Royal Society of London, which the author identified. The imprint on the title page of the book indicates that it is a rarity even among first edition copies. The rarity of the copy, its design, and the autographs of 21 fellows of the Royal Society as well make this copy a unique monument to the history of science. It is emphasized that the gift was not just a gesture of politeness, but the result of complex political and cultural interaction between the two allied countries.

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PHJ № 2 (34) 2022 — E. F. Sinelnikova. SPEECH OF THE RUSSIAN NATURE AMATEURS SOCIETY SECRETARY ON THE SIMPLIFICATION OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES REPORTING FORMS, 1926

The article discusses the speech of the Russian Nature Amateurs Society secretary V. A. Kazitsyn, discovered in the Central State Archives of St. Petersburg in the fund of the Leningrad Branch of the Main Directorate of Scientific Institutions of the Academic Center of the People’s Commissariat of Enlightenment of the RSFSR (F. 2555). It raised the question of simplifying the reporting of scientific societies to administrative bodies, scientific administrative and financial control institutions. V. A. Kazitsyn’s speech focused on the difficulties that are caused by redundant reporting and control over the activities of scientific societies. This problem was one of the most important in the relationship between the authorities and scientific societies in the mid‑1920s. The published document is dated 1926. The report was intended for a meeting of directors of scientific institutions subordinate to Glavnauka, which took place in Leningrad on April 1, 1926. Undoubtedly, V. A. Kazitsyn was the spokesman not only for the opinion of the council of the Russian Nature Amateurs Society, but also for other scientific societies. The ways of solving problems in relations between the authorities and scientific societies, proposed in the speech, testify to the fact that scientists were striving to democratize these relations. However, the proposed adjustments to the system of state regulation of the activities of scientific institutions and organizations in the conditions of the formation of a totalitarian system in the country could not be implemented. We believe that the published document is an interesting source on the social history of Russian science in the 1920s.