Russian Science Looks Ahead

Two possible futures, one optimistic, the other apocalyptic, loom for the survival of science in the now uncertain and uneasy former Soviet Union, members of a joint American-Russian workshop said at a weekend conference.

The conference, "Russian Science: Recent Reforms and Prospects for the Future," was organized by Loren R. Graham, a professor of history of science at both M.I.T. and Harvard.

The weekend workshop was the fifth of six in a series called "Science and Technology with a Human Face." Graham, who organized the event, has worked for many years studying the history of science in Soviet Union and in the former Soviet Union.

Approximately 65 participants from the West and from the former Soviet Union heard presentations of papers and a panel discussion on the changing status of scientific research in the former Soviet Union. Among those invited were scientists, historians of science and officials from the Russian ministry of science.

In an interview after the workshop on Saturday, Graham said the weekend conference was "one of the best so far."

Graham said Russian science is now undergoing a period of crisis.

The speaker who most fervently expressed the doomsday prediction of Russian science was Sergey Kara-Murza of the Analytical Center for Problems of Socio-Economy and Science-Technology Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Kara-Murza said just as the Communist party has collapsed, so will scientific research in the former Soviet Union. Kara-Murza said the former Soviet Union's strong central government allowed science to thrive.

"The monster ministries have been liquidated, which in turn has practically liquidated the conditions necessary for the existence of various branches of scientific work," he said in his paper delivered Friday morning.

Paul Josephson, a professor at Sarah Lawrence College and a fellow at the Dibner institute, suggested that Western government policy to spend "millions to keep weapons specialists in Russia and the Ukraine" will hurt science in the former Soviet Union in the long run.

Graham said much of the reaction against science is linked to the rejection of Communism because "the Marxist government in charge for 70 years put science on a pedestal." He added that "when the Soviet Union disappeared...many of the ideals were discredited along with the government."

Some aid is being given to the struggling scientists with average salaries of about $400 per year, according to Graham.