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Russian Academy of Sciences

The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk) 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 benefitted 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.

, the academy included 1,008 institutions and other units; in total about 125,000 people were employed of whom 47,000 were scientific researchers.

Membership
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. But 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 from May 30 to June 3, 2022.

As of end April 2024, the academy had 1900 living Russian members (full: 819, corresponding: 1081) and about 440 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. Now there are 713 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, in 2019 or in 2022 and are henceforth titled "RAS professor, corresponding member of the RAS" (163 scientists) or even "RAS professor, academician of the RAS" (16 scientists).

Present structure
The RAS consists of 13 specialized scientific divisions, four territorial branches and 15 regional scientific centers. The academy has numerous councils, committees, and commissions, all organized for different purposes.

Territorial branches

 * 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. As of end-2017, the Branch employed over 12,500 scientific researchers, 211 of whom were members of the Academy (109 full + 102 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. As of 2016, 112 Ural scientists were members of the Academy (41 full + 71 corresponding).

 * St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SPbB RAS)

 * The St. Petersburg Branch was established in 2023. As of July 1, 2024, 183 scientists from St. Petersburg were members of the Academy (73 full + 110 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. As of 2017, there were 64 Academy members in the Branch (23 full + 41 corresponding).

Regional centers

 * Kazan Scientific Center
 * Pushchino Federal Research Center of Biological Studies
 * Samara Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences
 * Saratov Scientific Center
 * Vladikavkaz Scientific Center of the RAS and the Government of the Republic Alania – Northern Ossetia
 * Dagestan Scientific Center RAS
 * Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center
 * Karelian Research Centre of RAS
 * Kola Science Centre RAS
 * Nizhny Novgorod Center
 * Scientific Center of the RAS in Chernogolovka
 * St. Petersburg Scientific Center
 * Ufa Scientific Center
 * Southern Scientific Center
 * Troitsk Scientific Center

Institutions
The Russian Academy of Sciences comprises a large number of research institutions, including:

 * Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics
 * Central Economic Mathematical Institute CEMI
 * Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre
 * Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology
 * Institute for Medical Science (Russia)
 * Institute for African Studies (Moscow)
 * Institute of Far Eastern Studies
 * Institute for Economic Strategies (Moscow)
 * Institute for the History of Material Culture (St Petersburg)
 * Institute of Archaeology (Moscow)
 * Institute for Physics of Microstructures
 * Institute for Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
 * Institute for Spectroscopy
 * Institute for System Programming
 * Institute of Applied Physics
 * Institute of Cell Biophysics
 * Institute of Biological Instrumentation
 * Institute of Biomedical Problems
 * Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine (Novosibirsk)
 * Institute of Ecology and Evolution
 * Institute of Economy (RAS)
 * Institute of Human Brain (St.-Petersburg)
 * Institute of Gene Biology
 * Institute of Silicate Chemistry
 * Institute of High Current Electronics
 * Institute of Latin American Studies (Moscow)
 * Institute of Linguistics (Moscow)
 * Institute for Linguistic Studies (Saint Petersburg)
 * Institute of Oriental Studies (Moscow)
 * Institute of Oriental Manuscripts (Saint Petersburg)
 * Institute of Philosophy
 * Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology
 * Institute of Radio-engineering and Electronics
 * Institute of Solid State Physics
 * Institute of State and Law
 * Institute of the US and Canada (ISKRAN)
 * Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO)
 * Institute of World Literature (Moscow)
 * Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute
 * Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics
 * Komarov Botanical Institute
 * Komi Science Centre
 * Kutateladze Institute for Thermal Physics
 * Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics
 * Laser and Information Technology Institute
 * Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering
 * Lebedev Physical Institute
 * N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology
 * A.N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds
 * Northeast Science Station (Северо-Восточная научная станция РАН)
 * Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics
 * Paleontological Institute
 * Program Systems Institute
 * A. M. Prokhorov General Physics Institute
 * Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radiowave Propagation (IZMIRAN)
 * Schmidt Institute of the Physics of the Earth
 * Space Research Institute
 * Shemyakin and Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, which has an artificial climate station called "biotron"
 * Shirshov Institute of Oceanology
 * Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography RAS
 * Special Astrophysical Observatory
 * State Public Scientific & Technological Library
 * Steklov Institute of Mathematics
 * St. Petersburg Department of Steklov Institute of Mathematics
 * Sukachev Institute of Forest
 * Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry
 * Vingoradov Russian Language Institute
 * Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences
 * N. D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry
 * Zoological Institute

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 Ministry of Education of Russian Federation), but a number of leading universities, such as Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State University, Novosibirsk State University, and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, make use of the staff and facilities of many institutes of the RAS (as well as of other research institutions); the MIPT faculty refers to this arrangement as the "Phystech System".

From 1933 to 1992, the main scientific journal of the Soviet Academy of Sciences was the Proceedings of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR); after 1992, it became simply Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences (Doklady Akademii Nauk).

The academy is also increasing its presence in the educational area. In 1990, the Higher Chemical College of the Russian Academy of Sciences was founded, a specialized university intended to provide extensive opportunities for students to choose an academic path.

Awards
The academy gives out a number of different prizes, medals and awards among which:

 * Lomonosov Gold Medal
 * Landau Gold Medal
 * Kurchatov Medal
 * Demidov Prize
 * Lobachevsky Prize
 * Kovalevskaya Prize
 * Pushkin Prize
 * Lebedev Prize
 * Markov Prize
 * Bogolyubov Medal

Creation of the Academy

The academy was a culmination of Emperor Peter the Great's inspiration from his tours to Western Europe and its higher education centers along with the beginning of his correspondence with Gottfried Leibniz, a philosopher, mathematician, and diplomat. Peter's Western European travels introduced him to the new inventions and ideas of the Enlightenment period. Leibniz was attracted to Peter's desire to promote education and science in Russia through modernization of the academic system as he had seen in Western Europe, although he could not get a meeting with Peter during Peter's first European tour. Leibniz did, however, begin correspondence with Peter's advisors where he discussed different plans to achieve the westernization of Russia. Leibniz suggested an education reform which divided schools, universities, and academies, as well as creating new academies and schools. Also, Leibniz suggested creating an arts and sciences institution with faculty consisting of leading foreign scholars.

Following Leibniz's advice, Peter founded the St. Petersburg Academy of Science a year before he died, in January 1724 and the Senate decree of February 8, 1724 implemented the academy. It was modeled after the centralized structure of the Paris Academy and the Berlin Academy of Sciences. These model institutions had led to an educated society of philosophical men, something Peter wanted in Russia. In particular, the Berlin Academy of Sciences was founded by Leibniz, exemplary of the influence which Leibniz had on the creation of the St Petersburg Academy of Science. The Paris Academy was administered directly by the King, which inspired Peter to make himself the supreme head of the St Petersburg Academy of Science, although there could be an academy president.

Early years of the Academy

Peter's widow and Empress Catherine I followed through with the establishment and formation of the academy, opening it in December 1725. Mathematics, physical sciences, and humanities were the three departments which made up the academy upon its opening. The academy also contained a university and secondary school, promoting higher education in Russia. As such, the initial 17 scholars had to teach and administer research. They were a portion of the 84 Academy staff in 1726 There were also student assistants who helped the scholars and taught in the secondary school. 112 students ages 5–18 made up the total first year enrollment in 1726. 76 of the 112 students were Russian while the other 36 students were foreign. The academy did not have an official charter until 1747. Peter I did lay out the goals for the academy in a document signed before his death called the "Project". In the document, Peter wished for the academy to be a model for Russia.

Since the academy was under the Tsar, the presidents, vice-presidents, directors, and vice-directors were all appointed by the crown. Catherine I started this precedent which lasted until the end of the Russian Empire. The academy hit hard times during Empress Anna's rule. A low of 6 students remained in 1744 and the teaching was in German, contrary to Peter I's wishes. The academy achieved a major goal in the 1740s by turning out the first Russian scholar members, Stepan Krasheninnikov and Mikhail Lomonosov.

Post-1747 Charter
The academy's charter in 1747 brought some changed to the academy's organization which stood until the end of the century. Among some of the changes were Russian and Latin as the official languages, a push to translate literature into Russian, and restrictive working hours for faculty. The charter also emphasized the hope for Russian Academy graduates to replace all the foreign scholars in time. Most of the secondary school graduates went into civil service instead of continue to the university. The university part of the academy gradually deteriorated and eventually died by 1767.

During Catherine the Great's rule, she enacted reforms to improve the academy for scholars. She created a commission of academy faculty to lead the academy instead of bureaucratic rule. Also, in the second half of the 18th century, Russian scholars grew in number among the faculty of the academy. To heal the growing internal German versus Russian conflict of the faculty, Catherine the Great convinced Euler to return to St Petersburg and head the academy in 1766, where he stayed until he died in 1783. Catherine the Great's son Paul I's short reign marked a decline for the academy as he cut funding for academic institutions and prohibited Russians from attending Western influenced institutions. In 1803, Alexander I reverted to reforms from Catherine the Great's era and gave the academy self-administration power in a new charter. The new charter came with a name change to the Imperial Academy of Sciences.

Scholars and research
Following Leibniz's instructions, Peter reached out to the German philosopher Christian Wolff, a correspondent of Leibniz, in the early 1720s and unsuccessfully offered him the Vice-Presidency of the academy. While Wolff declined a position in the academy, he did invite western scholars to work at the academy to improve higher education within the Russian Empire as outlined in Leibniz's letters. Foreign scholars invited to work at the academy included the mathematicians Leonhard Euler (1707–1783), Anders Johan Lexell, Christian Goldbach, Georg Bernhard Bilfinger, Nicholas Bernoulli (1695–1726) and Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782), botanist Johann Georg Gmelin, embryologists Caspar Friedrich Wolff, astronomer and geographer Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, physicist Georg Wolfgang Kraft, historian Gerhard Friedrich Müller and English Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne (1732–1811).

Expeditions to explore remote parts of the country had Academy scientists as their leaders or most active participants. These included Vitus Bering's Second Kamchatka Expedition of 1733–1743, expeditions to observe the 1769 transit of Venus from eight locations in Russian Empire, and the expeditions of Peter Simon Pallas (1741–1811) to Siberia. The expeditions led to the creation of an atlas of Russia and to research in astronomy, geography, and fauna and flora. From 1750 to 1777, the academy published 20 volumes of their academic journal called Novi Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae. The majority of Russian scientific research in the 18th century was done by members of the academy.

Academy name changes
Originally called The Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences (Петербургская академия наук), the organization went under various names over the years, becoming The Imperial Academy of Sciences and Arts (Императорская академия наук и художеств; 1747–1803), The Imperial Academy of Sciences (Императорская академия наук; 1803–1836), and finally, The Imperial Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences (Императорская Санкт-Петербургская академия Наук, from 1836 and until the end of the empire in 1917). A separate organization, called the Russian Academy (Академия Российская), was created in 1783 to work on the study of the Russian language. Presided over by Princess Yekaterina Dashkova (who at the same time was the Director of the Imperial Academy of Arts and Sciences, i.e., the country's "main" academy), the Russian Academy was engaged in compiling the six-volume Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language (1789–1794). The Russian Academy was merged into the Imperial Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1841.

In the Soviet Union
Shortly after the October Revolution, in December 1917, Sergey Fedorovich Oldenburg, a leading ethnographer and political activist in the Kadet party, met with Vladimir Lenin to discuss the future of the academy. They agreed that the expertise of the academy would be applied to addressing questions of state construction, while in return the Soviet government would give the academy financial and political support.

The most important activities of the academy in the 1920s included an investigation of the large Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, of the minerals in the Kola Peninsula, and participation in the GOELRO plan targeted electrification of the whole country. In 1925 the Soviet government recognized the Russian Academy of Sciences as the "highest all-Union scientific institution" and renamed it the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. In 1934, the academy headquarters moved from Leningrad to the capital, Moscow.

The Stalin years were marked by a rapid industrialisation of the Soviet Union for which a great deal of research, mainly in the technical fields, was done. However, on the other hand, in these very times, many scientists underwent repressions for ideological reasons.

In the years of the Second World War, the Soviet Academy of Sciences made a big contribution to a development of modern weapons – tanks (new series of T-34), airplanes, degaussing the ships (for protection against the naval mines) etc. – and therefore to victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany. During and after the war, the academy was involved in the Soviet atomic bomb project; due to its success and other achievements in military techniques, the USSR became one of the superpowers in the Cold War era.

At the end of the 1940s, the academy consisted of eight divisions (Physico-Mathematical Science, Chemical Sciences, Geological-Geographical Sciences, Biological Science, Technical Science, History and Philosophy, Economics and Law, Literature and Languages); three committees (one for coordinating the scientific work of the Academies of the Republics, one for scientific and technical propaganda, and one for editorial and publications), two commissions (for publishing popular scientific literature, and for museums and archives), a laboratory for scientific photography and cinematography and Academy of Science Press departments external to the divisions.

The Academy of Sciences of the USSR helped to establish national Academies of Sciences in all Soviet republics (with the exception of the Russian SFSR), in many cases delegating prominent scientists to live and work in other republics. In the case of Ukraine, its academy was formed by the local Ukrainian scientists and prior to occupation of the Ukrainian People's Republic by Bolsheviks. These academies were:

Among the most important achievements of the academy of the second half of the 20th century, there is, first of all, the Soviet space program. In 1957 the first satellite was launched, in 1961 Yury Gagarin became the first person in space, and in 1971 the first space station Salyut 1 began its operation. Discoveries were also made in the nuclear branch and in other fields of physics. Furthermore, the academy participated in opening new universities or new study programs in the already existed universities, whose best absolvents started their career at the research institutes of the academy.

Post-Soviet period
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, by decree of the President of Russia of December 2, 1991, the academy again became the Russian Academy of Sciences, inheriting all facilities of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the territory of the Russian Federation.

The crisis of the 1990s in the post-Soviet Russia and a consequent drastic reduction of the state support for science have forced many scientists to leave Russia for Europe, Israel or the United States. Some excellent university graduates who could have become promising researchers also switched to other activities, predominately in commerce. The Russian Academy practically lost a generation of people born from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s; this age category is now underrepresented in all research institutes.

In the 2000s, the situation in the Russian science and technology has improved, the government announced a modernization campaign. Nevertheless, according to the Russian Academy of Sciences, total R&D spending in 2013 still hovered about 40% below the pre-crisis 1990 levels. Furthermore, a lack of competition, decayed infrastructure and continuing, though slightly reduced, brain drain play their part.

Restructured academy 2013 and later
On June 28, 2013, the Russian Government announced a draft law that would dissolve the RAS while creating a new "public-governmental" organization with the same name. The RAS would be fused with two other Russian national academies—Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, with all members of all academies acquiring equal status as academicians.

The law also created a new government agency: Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations (FASO). FASO would take control of all buildings and other property of the academy. In addition, all RAS academic institutes were removed from academy control. Instead, the new government agency FASO was empowered to "evaluate", relying on its own criteria, the efficiency of research institutes and rearrange ineffective ones.

The draft law, which, in its initial form, would have fundamentally changed the system of science organization in Russia, provoked conflicts and protests within academic circles. A large group of the RAS members signalized their intention not to join the new academy if the reform is run as planned in the draft. Some leading scientists (including Pierre Deligne, Michael Atiyah, Mumford, and others) wrote open letters which referred to the planned reform of the RAS as "shocking" and even "criminal". In this situation, the draft was softened in some details—e.g., there remained no words about "dissolution" in the text—and approved on September 27, 2013. In 2014, Putin announced more changes to science funding that reduced RAS power while increasing that of the government.

In 2017, the election of the RAS president was also brought under government control. At the General Meeting of the RAS in March 2018, the RAS president (that time) Alexander Sergeev said that the academy enters now the post-reform period.

In May 2018, the FASO was incorporated into Russia's new Ministry of Science and Higher Education. The latter was created by splitting the Ministry of Education and Science. Mikhail Kotyukov, who had been head of FASO since its creation, was named head of the new Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

In June 2023, the RAS opened the Modern Ideology of China Research Laboratory within its Institute of China and Contemporary Asia to study Xi Jinping Thought.

Imperial Russia
The following persons occupied the position of the academy's President (or, sometimes, Director):

 * Laurentius Blumentrost, 1725–1733
 * Hermann Karl von Keyserling 1733–1734
 * Johann Albrecht Korf, 1734–1740
 * Karl von Brevern, 1740–1741
 * (Post vacant, April 1741 – October 1746)
 * Count Kirill Razumovsky, 1746–1766 (nominally, till 1798)
 * Count Vladimir Orlov, 1766–1774 (Director)
 * Alexey Rzhevsky, 1771–1773 (Occasional Substitute of Orlov )
 * Sergey Domashnev, 1775–1782 (Director)
 * Princess Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova, 1783–1796 (Director; sent into de facto retirement in 1794. Simultaneously served as the President of the Russian Academy)
 * Pavel Bakunin, 1794–1796 (acting Director), 1796–1798 (Director). Simultaneously served as the President of the Russian Academy
 * Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay, 1798–1803
 * Nikolay Novosiltsev, 1803–1810
 * (Post vacant, April 1810 – Jan 1818)
 * Count Sergey Uvarov, 1818–1855
 * Dmitry Bludov, 1855–1864
 * Fyodor Litke, 1864–1882
 * Count Dmitry Tolstoy, 1882–1889
 * Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich of Russia, 1889–1915
 * (Post vacant, June 1915 – May 1917)

Soviet Russia

 * Alexander Karpinsky, 1917–1936
 * Vladimir Komarov, 1936–1945
 * Sergey Vavilov, 1945–1951
 * Alexander Nesmeyanov, 1951–1961
 * Mstislav Keldysh, 1961–1975
 * Anatoly Alexandrov, 1975–1986
 * Gury Marchuk, 1986–1991

Russian Federation

 * Yury Osipov, 1991–2013
 * Vladimir Fortov, 2013–2017
 * Valery Kozlov, 2017 (acting)
 * Alexander Sergeev, 2017–2022
 * Gennady Krasnikov, since Sept 2022

The last presidential elections in the academy (and also elections of the presidium) were organized on September 25–28, 2017. Initially the event was planned for March 2017, but unexpectedly all candidates retracted their nominations, and the elections were postponed.

Social activities of the academy and its members
Scientists of the academy were repeatedly elected deputies of various levels. In the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1974, "among the deputies of the Council of the Union, there were 22 scientists from the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the academies of sciences of the Union republics, and branch academies." In 1989, Andrei Sakharov became a People's Deputy of the USSR. Many scientists have worked in the State Duma of the Russian Federation - among the most famous are the physicist Zhores Alferov (deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation until his death on March 1, 2019, initiator of the laws "On Education for All" and "On Support for Innovation in Russia"), physician Gennady Onishchenko (from United Russia, member of the committee on education and science), and polar explorer Artur Chilingarov (United Russia).

Nobel Prize laureates affiliated with the Academy

 * Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, medicine, 1904
 * Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, medicine, 1908
 * Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin, literature, 1933
 * Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, chemistry, 1956
 * Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm, physics, 1958
 * Ilya Mikhailovich Frank, physics, 1958
 * Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, physics, 1958
 * Lev Davidovich Landau, physics, 1962
 * Nikolay Gennadiyevich Basov, physics, 1964
 * Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov, physics, 1964
 * Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, literature, 1965
 * Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, literature, 1970
 * Leonid Vitaliyevich Kantorovich, economics, 1975
 * Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov, peace, 1975
 * Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, physics, 1978
 * Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, physics, 2000
 * Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, physics, 2003
 * Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg, physics, 2003
 * Andre Geim, physics, 2010

title: Russian Academy of Sciences


text:
RatDog

RatDog is an American rock band. The group began in 1995 as a side project for Grateful Dead guitarist and singer Bob Weir. After the Dead disbanded later that year, RatDog became Weir's primary band. They performed some Grateful Dead songs, a mixture of covers (including Bob Dylan and Chuck Berry tunes), and some originals. RatDog's repertoire consists of more than 150 songs. They released two albums – Evening Moods (2000) and Live at Roseland (2001). RatDog has not toured since July 2014.

The lineup of RatDog evolved over time. Musicians who were members of the band at different times include Rob Wasserman and Robin Sylvester on bass, Jay Lane on drums, Matthew Kelly, Mark Karan, and Steve Kimock on guitar, and Vince Welnick, Johnny Johnson and Jeff Chimenti on keyboards.

History
During the late 1980s, Bob Weir teamed up with bassist Rob Wasserman and the duo toured for seven years under names such as Weir/Wasserman and Scaring the Children. In 1994, Weir and Wasserman participated in the Woodstock '94 festival. Jay Lane was added on drums and Matthew Kelly on guitar and harmonica in 1995. They played their first show as a full band on April 22, 1995, billed as Friends of Montezuma and then as RatDog Revue. They played their first show as RatDog on August 8, 1995. Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia died the next day.

RatDog went through a series of personnel changes from 1995 and 2000. Former Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick performed with the group in late 1995. Former Chuck Berry collaborator Johnnie Johnson performed with the group from February 1996 to May 1997 and was then replaced by Jeff Chimenti who has been with the band ever since. Keyboardist Mookie Siegel also played with the band between 1996 and 1997. Saxophonist Dave Ellis was a member of the group from 1996 until 1999 when he was replaced by Kenny Brooks in 2000 until his departure in 2012. Mark Karan joined on guitar in 1998 until his departure in 2012. Original stand up bassist Rob Wasserman was replaced by bass guitarist Robin Sylvester in 2003. Wasserman rejoined the band in January 2012 and played alongside Sylvester until the former's death in June 2016. The lineup of Bob Weir (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), Jay Lane (drums, vocals), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards, vocals), Kenny Brooks (saxophone, vocals), Mark Karan (lead guitar, vocals) and Robin Sylvester (bass guitar, vocals) was the longest serving lineup of the band. They performed together for nine years from 2003 until 2012, with the exception of 2007 when Karan was replaced briefly by Steve Kimock to battle a health problem.

RatDog released their first and, to date, only studio album, Evening Moods in 2000. They released their only official live album Live at Roseland in 2001, although most of the soundboards from their concerts since the mid-2000s were made available for purchase after concerts and online.

Throughout 2009 and 2010, original RatDog members Bob Weir, Rob Wasserman and Jay Lane periodically performed under the moniker Scaring the Children.

From 2010 through 2013, the number of RatDog's performances were limited while Weir toured with Furthur. Ratdog played 2 shows in both January 2012 and August 2013. In September 2013 it was revealed by Primus bassist Les Claypool that RatDog would be "getting back together this next year", as Lane had chosen to leave Primus in order to rejoin RatDog.

In February and March 2014, RatDog resumed more extensive touring, with Steve Kimock on lead guitar, Jeff Chimenti on keyboards, Jay Lane on drums, and two bass players, Robin Sylvester and Rob Wasserman. On August 10, 2014, Bob Weir and RatDog cancelled their summer and fall tour dates without explanation. Since early 2014 RatDog has been on hiatus while Bob Weir performs with Dead & Company.

Original, and then-current, bassist Rob Wasserman died on June 29, 2016. On August 31, 2016, Weir reunited Ratdog for a special tribute to Wasserman, at the Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, CA. Weir welcomed a number of guests to his show, including Steve Kimock, Mark Karan, Dave Ellis, Robin Sylvester, Jeff Chimenti and Jay Lane – all of whom were former and/or present members of RatDog. The band also welcomed Lukas Nelson and DJ Logic, who each sat in with the RatDog ensemble. The event marked the first time that guitarist Mark Karan and saxophonist Dave Ellis had played together in years. Both Karan and Ellis joined RatDog in the late '90s, with Ellis leaving in 1999 and Karan staying on until 2012.

Notable guests
Since its formation, many guest musicians have performed with RatDog, including Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Donna Jean Godchaux and Bruce Hornsby. Other well known guests include Joan Baez, Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring, Derek Trucks, Al Schnier, Ekoostik Hookah, Trey Anastasio, Les Claypool, Pete Sears, DJ Logic, John Popper, Dickey Betts, Sammy Hagar,  Mike Gordon and Keller Williams.

Discography

 * Evening Moods (2000)
 * Live at Roseland (2001)

Current members

 * Bob Weir – guitar, vocals (April 1995–present)
 * Jay Lane – drums (April 1995–present)
 * Jeff Chimenti – keyboards (May 1997–present)
 * Steve Kimock – guitar (July 2007 – April 2008, Aug 2013–present)

Former members

 * Rob Wasserman – stand up bass (April 1995 – October 2002, January 2012 – June 2016; his death)
 * Matthew Kelly – guitar, harmonica, vocals (April 1995 – September 1998)
 * Vince Welnick – keyboards, vocals (September 1995 – December 1995; died 2006)
 * Johnnie Johnson – keyboards (February 1996 – May 1997; died 2005)
 * Dave Ellis – saxophone (November 1996 – December 1999)
 * Mookie Siegel – keyboards (December 1996 – April 1997)
 * Dave McNabb – guitar (September 1998)
 * Mark Karan – guitar, vocals (October 1998 – June 2007, May 2008 – January 2012)
 * Kenny Brooks – saxophone (May 2000 – January 2012)
 * Robin Sylvester – bass guitar, stand up bass (March 2003–October 2022; his death)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: RatDog


text:
Intellect

In the study of the human mind, intellect is the ability of the human mind to reach correct conclusions about what is true and what is false in reality; and includes capacities such as reasoning, conceiving, judging, and relating. Translated from the Ancient Greek philosophical concept nous, intellect derived from the Latin intelligere ("to understand"), from which the term intelligence in the French and English languages is also derived. The discussion of intellect can be divided into two areas that concern the relation between intelligence and intellect.

 * In classical philosophy and in medieval philosophy the intellect (nous) is the subject of the question: How do people know things? In Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, the intellect was the conceptual means of reconciling religious monotheism with philosophical or scientific study of Nature. This reconciliation made the intellect the conduit between the individual human soul, and the divine intellect of the cosmos. Aristotle first developed this with his distinction between the passive intellect and active intellect.

 * In psychology and in neuroscience, the controversial Theory of Multiple Intelligences applies the terms intelligence (emotion) and intellect (mind) to describe how people understand the world and reality.

Intellect and intelligence
As a branch of intelligence, intellect concerns the logical and the rational functions of the human mind, and usually is limited to facts and knowledge. Additional to the functions of linear logic and the patterns of formal logic the intellect also processes the non-linear functions of fuzzy logic and dialectical logic.

Intellect and intelligence are contrasted by etymology; derived from the Latin present active participle intelligere, the term intelligence denotes "to gather in between", whereas the term intellect, derived from the past participle of intelligere, denotes "what has been gathered". Therefore, intelligence relates to the creation of new categories of understanding, based upon similarities and differences, while intellect relates to understanding existing categories.

Development of intellect

A person's intellectual understanding of reality derives from a conceptual model of reality based upon the perception and the cognition of the material world of reality. The conceptual model of mind is composed of the mental and emotional processes by which a person seeks, finds, and applies logical solutions to the problems of life. The full potential of the intellect is achieved when a person acquires a factually accurate understanding of the real world, which is mirrored in the mind. The mature intellect is identified by the person's possessing the capability of emotional self-management, wherein they can encounter, face, and resolve problems of life without being overwhelmed by emotion.

Real-world experience is necessary to and for the development of a person's intellect, because, in resolving the problems of life, a person can intellectually comprehend a social circumstance (a time and a place) and so adjust their social behavior in order to act appropriately in the society of other people. Intellect develops when a person seeks an emotionally satisfactory solution to a problem; mental development occurs from the person's search for satisfactory solutions to the problems of life. Only experience of the real world can provide understanding of reality, which contributes to the person's intellectual development.

Structure of intellect
In 1955, the psychologist Joy Paul Guilford (1897–1987) proposed a Structural Intellect (SI) model in three dimensions: (i) Operations, (ii) Contents, and (iii) Products. Each parameter contains specific, discrete elements that are individually measured as autonomous units of the human mind. Intellectual operations are represented by cognition and memory, production (by divergent thinking and convergent thinking), and evaluation. Contents are figurative and symbolic, semantic and behavioral. Products are in units, classes, and relations, systems, transformations, and implications.

Intellect in psychotherapy
Intellectualization is a psychotherapeutic method based of intense intellectual focus in order to avoid dealing with a problem that occupies the attention of a person. In psychological praxis, intellectualization is a defense mechanism that blocks feelings in order to prevent anxiety and stress from acting upon and interfering with the psyche of the person, which otherwise would interfere with their normal functioning in real life. As psychotherapy, intellectualization is a rational, dispassionate, and scientific approach towards dealing with and resolving mental problems, which psychologically disturb the person. The functions of intellectualization involve the Id, ego, and super-ego. The Ego is the conscious aspect of human personality; the Id is the unconscious, animal-instinct aspect; and the super-ego is the control mechanism that mediates and adjusts a person's thoughts and actions and behavior in accordance with the social norms of society. The purpose of intellectualization is to isolate the Id from the real world, and so make the conscious aspects of a person's life the only object of reflection and consideration. Therefore, intellectualization defends and protects the Ego from the Id, the unconscious aspect of human personality that usually is impossible to control.

Socially, intellectualization uses technical jargon and complex scientific terminology instead of plain language; e.g. a physician uses the word carcinoma instead of cancer to lessen the negative impact of a diagnosis of terminal disease — by directing the patient's attention away from the bad news. The different registers of language, scientific (carcinoma) and plain language (cancer), facilitate the patient's acceptance of medical fact and medical treatment, by avoiding an outburst of negative emotions that would interfere with the successful treatment of the disease.

Moreover, the defense mechanism of intellectualization is criticized because it separates and isolates the person from the painful emotions caused by the psychological problem. As such, the defense mechanism subsequently leads to the denial of intuition, which sometimes contributes to the processes of decision-making; a negative consequence of the absence of emotional stimuli can deprive the person of motivation, and lead to a mood of dissatisfaction, such as melancholy; such "emotional constipation" threatens their creativity, by replacing such capabilities with factual solutions.

title: Intellect


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Yarmouth, Isle of Wight

Yarmouth is a town, port and civil parish in the west of the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England. The town is named for its location at the mouth of the small Western Yar river. The town grew near the river crossing, originally a ferry, which was replaced with a road bridge in 1863.

History
Yarmouth has been a settlement for over a thousand years, and is one of the earliest on the island. The first account of the settlement is in Æthelred the Unready's record of the Danegeld tax of 991, when it was called Eremue, meaning "muddy estuary". The Normans laid out the streets on a grid system, a plan which can still be seen today. It grew rapidly, being given its first charter as a town in 1135. The town became a parliamentary borough in the Middle Ages, and the Yarmouth constituency was represented by two members of Parliament until 1832.

Until the castle was built, raids by the French hurt the town; in 1544 the it was reputed to have been burned down. Legend has it that the church bells were carried off to Cherbourg or Boulogne.

Yarmouth Castle was built in 1547, and is now in the care of English Heritage. It is effectively a gun platform, built by Henry VIII to fortify the Solent and protect against any attempted invasion of England.

For many years Yarmouth was the seat of the Governor of the Island. Yarmouth Town Hall was built in 1763.

In St. James's Church, there is a monument to the 17th century admiral Sir Robert Holmes who was at Yarmouth. He obtained it in a raid on a French ship, when he seized an unfinished statue of Louis XIV of France and forced the sculptor to finish it with his own head rather than the king's.

In 1784, most of Yarmouth's ancient charters were lost: A ship's captain, drunk after a court dinner, stole what he thought was a case of wine, as he returned to his ship. When he discovered it was a case of books, he threw it overboard. Yarmouth Pier was opened in 1876. It received Grade 2 listed status in 1975. Originally 685 ft (207.5m) long, it's now 609 ft (186m) but is still the longest timber pier in England open to the public, and also a docking point for the MV Balmoral and PS Waverley.

Several Sites of Special Scientific Interest lie close to Yarmouth, including Yar Estuary SSSI & Bouldnor And Hamstead Cliffs SSSI.

Commerce
As a port and market town Yarmouth has had local commercial significance. It still has some boat yards and chandlery, and although relatively small it still supports a number of shops, hotels, pubs and restaurants, supported partly by passing trade from the ferry terminal and visiting boat owners.

Transport
The Wightlink car ferry sails from Yarmouth to Lymington (Lymington Pier) in Hampshire.

Southern Vectis operate bus services from Yarmouth bus station, a small building near the ferry terminal, the main route being route 7 serving Totland, Alum Bay, Freshwater, Newport and Shalfleet as well as Yarmouth. To reach Yarmouth, route 7 uses Pixley Hill, which has caused some controversy amongst local residents who do not believe the road is large enough for buses. The controversy was initially started by former route 11 being extended to serve Yarmouth and using the lane in September 2008.

In the spring and summer, Southern Vectis also operate an open top bus called "The Needles Breezer" that runs through Freshwater Bay to Alum Bay and onto the Needles Battery down a bus and pedestrian-only road along the cliff edge; returning to Yarmouth via Totland and Colwell. For the more athletic, Yarmouth is on the Isle of Wight Coastal Path.

The parish was once served by Yarmouth railway station, with services to Newport. Passenger services ended in 1953, and the track has long since been removed; the trackbed between Yarmouth and Freshwater has been converted into a bridleway. In August 2014 the converted and expanded railway station opened as a restaurant.

Size and population
Yarmouth is one of the smallest towns in the United Kingdom. The 2011 census reported the parish of Yarmouth having 865 usual residents. In 2001, the population was just 791 (compared with about 600 at the beginning of the 19th century).

Today
Yarmouth hosted the popular biannual Old Gaffers festival which included several days of entertainment and shows, but in September 2018 it was announced that the event would no longer be held.

Yarmouth marina is the landing point for the Royal Navy's Solent Amphibious Challenge, held in June each year.

title: Yarmouth, Isle of Wight


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User:Chen wang

Chen Wang is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science at Michigan State University. Before coming to MSU, he worked in Bell-Labs China for three years, where he took part in several projects on telecommunications. Previously, he received both his BS and MS degrees from Northeastern University, China.

His research interests are in computer networking and wide-area distributed systems. I am currently working on peer-to-peer content distribution systems.

Chen Wang

http://www.cse.msu.edu/~wangche7/

PHD student

Computer Science

Michigan State University

3115 Engineering Building East Lansing, MI 48824-1226

title: User:Chen wang


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Malto Brewery

Malto Brewery is the largest brewery in Albania. The company sells a pilsener beer under the Birra Tirana brand, named after the capital, Tirana, where the beers are brewed. It was first produced in 1961 by the Kombinati Ushqimor (a state agency). The beer contains 4% alcohol.

Malto Brewery was privatized in 2001. The company used to produce 5,000 tons a year prior to the privatization, while it is currently producing around 13,000 tons, with exports going to Kosovo and the United States. Birra Tirana accounts for a large percentage of all beers sold in Albania, up to 30% by some accounts, making it one of the most widely distributed products made in Albania.

History
The production of the beer in Albania began in 1938, with a capacity around 8,000 HL in year. In these years the beer was known only a little bit by Albanians, because the traditional drinks were wine and brandy. After the Second World War, Albania began to build the grocery industry, which was imported generally from the countries of ex-socialist camp. In 1960 Birra Tirana was constructed as a factory with capacity 70,000 HL/year, with a Russian production technology and the first specialists were qualified in the Soviet Union. It produced beer of the type blond pilsen and dark one in 0.5L bottles in woody case and 50L butt. Birra Tirana has been a component part of ex-Grocery Combine "Ali Kelmendi". Together with the beer factory, a malt production facility was built, which until 1983, provided malt to the beer factory. Barley was produced primarily in the zone of Korca, while Hops were cultivated in Pogradec. The water used for the production of the beer has always been from the Selitas fountains. As a result of the increased market demand for beer, in 1983, Birra Tirana was reconstructed, increasing its capacity to 150,000 HL/year. Technology was improved with the addition of German and Swedish machinery.

Inasmuch as, in this period, there was a centralized economy, Birra Tirana was distributed in 2/3 of the country, except the south-east part of Albania, that was furnished by Birra Korça. After the year 1983, around 50 percent of malt began to be imported. Together with the change in the political climate, including the liberalization of the market, different beers were imported from neighboring countries. As result of the image of these products as well as economic downturn, political and social chaos, the production and the sales in 1990–1992, fell by 4 percent. As result of the reform of economic decentralization, that the Albania Government undertook, the grocery combine "Ali Kelmendi" was disintegrated in some separately establishments and the factory of Birra Tirana, passed as an independent establishment, with distinctive balance, registering under the name The establishment of the Production of Birra Malty, but the product's brand did not change. In 1993, with the grant of BE, via the Phare programme, were claimed 1,000,000 ECU, for the furniture with raw material (malt, hops), packages (bottles, cases), and also exchanges for the brush up to work of this factory. Birra Tirana began to compete successfully in market and its financial condition began to improve, creating such incomes, that not only liquidate in the state budget the fund about 100,000 ECU, but even accomplishing further investments with machinery in Germany, for the filling line, packing, grinding, CO2 gas, filtration, furnaces, compressors for refrigeration, and even the lines of circulation of the beer and brine, all in steel. In this period was paid a special attention to the Marketing and to the analysis of the market in particular, with the help of the English specialists, Dutch and German. In base of this analysis, Birra Tirana created its strategy, improving evidently the image in market, via packing, publicity and promotion improvement, the enlargement of the distribution canal all over Albania, even competing with lower prices than import. Also the security standard was increased for the consumers, growing the long-life of this beer six months to one year via tunnel pasteurization. The establishment of the production of Malt Beer, passed in Albania with limited liability (Sh.p.k). Meanwhile, in 2000, it returned in shareholder Fellowship "Birra Malt" Sh.a, with the capital 100% state-owned. This was a step forward its denationalization. It can be said that, in the attended strategy by Albanian State against Birra Tirana, won the idea that the denationalization of the establishments in Albania would be more efficient, putting them in efficiency and not destroying them. In April 2001, "Birra Malt" Sh.a was denationalized by ten Albanians shareholders who have 96 percent of the shares, 2% the owner of the terrain and 2% of the workers. With its reorganization, and the breath, that brought the ten main shareholders, which had a long successful experience with their business, about the alteration of the work mentality and all these followed by business plans and by clear strategy of development, "Birra Tirana" has stated its goal to become the main beer in the Albania market. It is not traded only in Albania, but in Kosovo and America. This leap as consequence of the enlargement of the dimensions of the market, escaping the geographic confines of a strictly Albanian market, abandoning the idea that the market of Birra Tirana should be only Albanian.

title: Malto Brewery


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Bolesław IV the Curly

Bolesław IV the Curly (Bolesław Kędzierzawy; c. 1122 – 5 January 1173), a member of the Piast dynasty, was Duke of Masovia from 1138 and High Duke of Poland from 1146 until his death in 1173.

Early life
Bolesław was the third son of Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth of Poland by his second wife Salomea of Berg. The death of his older brothers, Leszek and Casimir, before 1131 and in October 1131, respectively, left him as the eldest son of their parents. Bolesław was 13 years old at the time of his father's death (1138) and of the legal age to take on the government of the lands he inherited according to his father's testament, the newly created Duchy of Masovia (composed of Masovia and eastern Kuyavia).

In the first years of his government, young Bolesław remained under the strong influence of his mother and Voivode Wszebor, who feared the ambition of his elder half-brother High Duke Władysław II. Władysław II tried to restore the unity of the country and deposed the junior dukes.

Fraternal struggle
Trouble began openly in 1141, when Dowager Duchess Salomea — without the consent of High Duke Władysław II — organized a meeting with her sons at her residence in Łęczyca. Here was decided the betrothal of her youngest daughter, Agnes, to Mstislav II of Kiev, in order to gain allies in a possible conflict. She also set up the division of the Łęczyca lands, her dower, between her sons upon her death. The junior dukes in this first struggle were definitely defeated, because Grand Prince Vsevolod II of Kiev decided to make an alliance with Władysław II, reinforced by the marriage of Vsevolod's daughter Zvenislava with the high duke's eldest son, Bolesław the Tall. An additional humiliation for Bolesław IV and his brothers was that they were sent by the high duke on an expedition to the Kievan Rus' as ambassadors during 1142–1143.

The "peace" lasted only two years until 1144 when, after Salomea's death and according to Bolesław III's Testament, the Łęczyca province reverted to the Seniorate Province of High Duke Władysław II. The idea to reserve the lands for his younger brothers Henry and Casimir II was not popular with Wladyslaw, who thought that the land was only temporarily separated from his Dzielnica senioralna and now in its entirety should be returned. The outbreak of civil war was therefore only a matter of time.

The war erupted with full force in 1145, and it seemed that the junior dukes were defeated and the high duke finally achieved the unification of the country. At first the combined forces of Bolesław IV and his brothers prevented the disaster and demanded a hasty reorganization of the forces of Władysław at the Battle on the Pilicą River. The major significance of this battle was to the former voivode Wszebor, whose military experience far exceeded the ability of Władysław's commanders. Soon, however, the situation was totally reversed as a result of the Kievan troops who entered in the country as Władysław's allies. Bolesław then had to agree to step down and renounce any pretension over the lands belonging to his mother.

The concessions of the junior dukes ultimately didn't resolve the problem. Moreover, Władysław's confidence in his forces had him embark on a final solution, the removal of his stepbrothers from their lands. Suddenly, the junior dukes could rely on the support of the high duke's all-powerful voivode Piotr Włostowic, for whom Władysław's plans were too radical and threatened to weaken his position. While Władysław opted for a quick response against him (the voivode was blinded and muted), forcing Włostowic to go to Kiev, the high duke's final decision on his confrontation with the voivode considerably weakened his position. What's more, Włostowic convinced the Kievans to break his alliance with Władysław.

Expulsion of Władysław II
At the beginning of 1146 the rebellions against Władysław's government rose mighty, sparked by the fate of Piotr Włostowic. Nevertheless, the final victory of Władysław seemed likely, especially after the conquest of Masovia (forcing Bolesław to escape) and the siege of Poznań in Greater Poland in the spring of 1146. However, thanks to the rebellion in Władysław's own lands, and the excommunication imposed to him by the Archbishop of Gniezno, the high duke suffered an unexpected defeat. Władysław and his family had to flee across the border with the Holy Roman Empire, at first to Bohemia and later to Germany, accommodated by King Conrad III.

The junior dukes reassigned the Polish provinces between them. The Duchy of Silesia and the Seniorate Province at Kraków were taken by Bolesław, who also received the title of high duke, the western Duchy of Greater Poland was retained by his brother Mieszko III, and Henry finally received his long-promised land of Sandomierz. Casimir II, the youngest brother, again remained without lands.

Interventions
Thanks to the intrigues of his wife, Agnes of Babenberg, a half-sister of King Conrad III, Władysław II succeeded in convincing his brother-in-law to make a military expedition to Poland. The hastily organized expedition however clashed with the reluctance of the former subjects of the deposed high duke, and was finally defeated already on the Polish border near the Oder river in August 1146.

In subsequent years, Bolesław IV along with his younger brothers bellows sought to maintain good relations with the royal House of Hohenstaufen, Władysław's allies. To this end, in 1148 the junior dukes organized a meeting in Kruszwica, to which they invited the warlike Margrave Albert the Bear of the German Northern March (the later Margraviate of Brandenburg), who had reached the Polish border in the course of the Wendish Crusade. There, Bolesław arranged the marriage of his sister Judith with the margrave's son Otto. Boleslaw and Mieszko also militarily supported the Germans in the fight against the reluctant West Slavic Lutici tribes, considerably contributing to the stability of German domination over the middle Spree region. The second important ally of the Piast prince was the Wettin margrave Konrad of Meissen.

Initially, Bolesław also had a difficult relationship with another opposing force policy like the Hohenstaufens: the Roman Curia under of Pope Eugene III. At first in 1147 the Papal legate Humbold recognized Bolesław as the new high duke and overlord of Poland. However, one year later, and again instigated by the intrigues of Władysław's wife Agnes, the newly Papal legate Guy arrived to the country in connection with the refusal to restore the former high duke, and declared the ban over Poland. The penalty, thanks for the cohesive support of the Polish church hierarchy by the junior dukes, was virtually without repercussions.

Things worsened for Bolesław in 1157, when King Conrad's nephew Frederick Barbarossa, crowned emperor by Pope Adrian IV in 1155, decided to make a new expedition to Poland, thanks to the ongoing pressures by his aunt Agnes, Władysław's wife. This time the campaign was well organized, and the Emperor was well determined to force Bolesław IV to accept his own conditions. It's unknown why Bolesław opted for a highly security tactics of war, not defending the swampy areas in front of the middle Oder river, which was for centuries the natural defense of Poland, nor the strongholds of Głogów and Bytom in Silesia. The Imperial army quickly advanced and soon laid siege to Poznan.

Given the difficult situation, Bolesław was forced to accept the humiliating negotiations and in a shameful ceremony on 30 August 1157, was declared a vassal of the Empire at his camp in Krzyszkowo. Bolesław was in his knees and beg for forgiveness to the Emperor, in return for which he kindly received from Barbarossa the further control over the Polish lands; also, he had to pay an enormous tribute to Emperor. For unknown reasons however, despite Barbarossa's victory, Władysław II to his great disappointment was not restored in the Polish throne. Bolesław formally swore loyalty to the Emperor on Christmas Day in Magdeburg, and gave his younger brother, Casimir II, as a hostage. Two years later Władysław died in exile, having never returned to his country again.

Not before 1163 the sons of the late Władysław, Bolesław I the Tall and Mieszko IV Tanglefoot, backed by the Emperor insisting on the agreement made with Bolesław IV, were restored in their Silesia heritage; but this return didn't affect the power of Bolesław as a high duke. Thanks to its German affinities, the senior branch of the Silesian Piasts at least managed to retain its Silesian lands (Wrocław, Legnica, Głogów, Opole and Racibórz) without problems.

Crusade against the Prussians
Following the defeat by the German forces, Bolesław initiated a bold plan for the conquest of the pagan Prussians, settling beyond the northeastern Polish border along the Baltic coast. This concept of an early Prussian Crusade was conceived in view of the repeated seizures by more and more Baltic tribes in the several districts of Bolesław's Masovian province. The high duke proclaimed a crusade against the pagans and pressured the collaboration of both the pope and the Emperor. The initial campaigns were successful however efforts and attempts to conquer these province were finally defeated in 1166. Furthermore, during one of the battles the younger brother of the high duke, Henry of Sandomierz, was killed.

Rebellion of Casimir the Just
After Henry's death, against the dispositions of the Bolesław III's Testament, the high duke incorporated Sandomierz into the Seniorate Province. This caused the anger and frustration of his youngest brother, Casimir II the Just, who was the next in line to inherit the lands and was the only of Bolesław III' sons still without any land.

Casimir was supported in his rebellion by his elder brother Duke Mieszko III the Old of Greater Poland, the magnate Jaksa of Miechów and Sviatoslav, son of Voivode Piotr Włostowic, as well as the Archbishops of Gniezno and Kraków; also, almost all Lesser Polish nobility was on his side. In February 1168 the rebels gathered in Jędrzejów, and there they proclaimed Mieszko III as the new high duke and Casimir was formally invested with Sandomierz. But at the end Bolesław maintained his rule by largely accepting the demands of rebels; he divided late Henry's duchy in three parts: the lands of Wiślica were granted to Casimir, Bolesław himself obtained Sandomierz proper and the rest passed to Mieszko III.

After the disaster of the Prussian Crusade, the Silesian dukes Bolesław I the Tall and Mieszko IV Tanglefoot attempted to dethrone the high duke and to recover the Seniorate Province and thereby the Polish overlordship. Bolesław's reprisal expedition in the following year ended with a total disaster, so the high duke eventually had to reconcile with his Silesian nephews.

In 1172 Duke Mieszko III rebelled again; this time supporting his grandnephew Jarosław of Opole (the eldest son of Bolesław I the Tall), who, forced to become a priest in his early years, was barred from the Silesian succession. Unsatisfied with this, Jarosław tried to gain power and obtain his own lands. The support of this rebellion was so strong, that his father was forced to escape to Erfurt. This originated another expedition in his aid by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who again invaded Poland and defeated the rebels. The high duke ordered Mieszko III to Magdeburg where peace was made with the Empire after the payment of 8,000 pieces of silver and the Silesian duchy was again granted to Bolesław I the Tall at the Emperor's mercy; despite his victory, the high duke finally accepted the autonomy of his Silesian nephews.

Shortly afterwards another rebellion took place, this time of the Lesser Polish nobles, who were extremely dissatisfied with the harsh and dictatorial high duke's government. The rebels invited Casimir II, then duke of Wiślica, to take the Kraków throne, but Bolesław's resistance against his younger brother was so strong that both parties made concessions, who led finished with any riots until the end of the high duke's reign. Casimir succeeded Bolesław in Sandomierz upon his death in 1173 and became high duke four years later.

Relations with the Church
Bolesław was known for his many gifts and grants to the Church. Particularly enriched thanks to him, among others were: the Church of St. Mary and St. Catherine and of St. Vincent near Wrocław, the Benedictine monastery in Trzemeszno and the Collegiate church in Tum near Łęczyca. Around 1151 he founded the Canonical Regular Kolegiata in Czerwińsk.

Marriages and issue
In 1137 Bolesław married Viacheslava (b. ca. 1125 – d. 15 March ca. 1162?), daughter of Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich of Novgorod and Pskov. They had three children:
 * 1) Bolesław (b. 1156 – d. 1172)
 * 2) A daughter (b. ca. 1160 – d. aft. 1178), married ca. 1172/73 to Vasilko Iaropolkovich, Prince of Shumsk and Dorohychyn.
 * 3) Leszek (b. ca. 1162 – d. 1186).

After the death of his first wife, Bolesław married Maria (d. aft. 1173), whose origins are disputed. This union was childless.

Bolesław's eldest son died in 1172 aged sixteen and reportedly the high duke was devastated by his death. He was succeeded in the Masovian-Kujavian principality by his second and only surviving son Leszek, at the age of eleven or less. As overlord and holder of Kraków and Gniezno, he however was succeeded by his next brother Mieszko III the Old.

title: Bolesław IV the Curly


text:
Gudok

The gudok (, гудок), gudochek (, гудочек) is an ancient Eastern Slavic string musical instrument, played with a bow.

A gudok usually had three strings, two of them tuned in unison and played as a drone, the third tuned a fifth higher. All three strings were in the same plane at the bridge, so that a bow could make them all sound simultaneously. Sometimes the gudok also had several sympathetic strings (up to eight) under the sounding board. These made the gudok's sound warm and rich.

The player held the gudok on his lap, like a cello or viola da gamba. It was also possible to play the gudok while standing and even while dancing, which made it popular among skomorokhs. Initially in the 12th century (and probably before), the gudok did not have a neck for pressing strings. This suggests that it was played by stopping the strings from the side with fingernails (similarly to the Byzantine lyra), rather than pressing strings onto the instrument's neck. Later in the 14th century some modifications of the gudok had a real neck for pressing strings.

The Russian gudok ceased to exist as a folk instrument for several centuries. All present instruments are replicas, based on several parts of gudoks found in the Novgorod excavations.

There have been several attempts to revive the gudok in music. Borodin's opera Prince Igor contains a "Gudok Player's Song", which is an artistic reconstruction of how the gudok may have sounded.

title: Gudok