On February 8 (January 28), 1724,
by decree of the Governing Senate, by order of Emperor Peter the Great,
the Academy of Sciences and Arts
was established in St. Petersburg.
According to the plan of Peter the Great, it was to become not only a scientific, but also an educational institution. A university and a gymnasium were created at the Academy to train personnel of Russian scientists. On January 7, 1726 (December 27, 1725), the first ceremonial meeting of the Academy of Sciences and Arts was held, which was attended by several hundred people. Among the academicians were outstanding scientists – mathematicians Daniel Bernoulli and Leonard Euler. The first Russian adjunct was V.E. Adodurov, the first Russian professors – M.V. Lomonosov and V.K. Trediakovsky. In 1755, on the initiative of M.V. Lomonosov and I.I. Shuvalov, Moscow University was founded. At the beginning of the XIX century. in Russia, a unified system of higher education began to take shape. In 1804, by decree of Emperor Alexander I, a charter was adopted, according to which the Moscow, Kazan and Kharkov universities carried out their activities.
To the Day of Russian Science, the staff of the SPbII RAS prepared a virtual exhibition “Documents on the history of science and education in Russia and Western Europe in the collection of the Scientific and historical archive of the SPbII RAS (diplomas, certificates, certificates”. The exhibition presents diplomas from universities in Russia (XIX – XX centuries) and Western Europe (XVI – XVII centuries), as well as diplomas and certificates issued by the Russian scientist Academy of Sciences and scientific societies. The exposition is completed with diplomas, certificates, certificates and awards from the personal funds of the employees of the Leningrad branch of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences – S.N. Valk, B.A. Romanov, A.V. Predtechensky, I.I. Smirnov.