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Physics moves to the provinces: the Siberian physics community and Soviet power, 1917–1940

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2017

PAUL JOSEPHSON
Affiliation:
Department of History, Colby College, Waterville, Maine 04901, USA. Email: prjoseph@colby.edu.
ALEKSANDR SOROKIN
Affiliation:
Dotsent, Department of History, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia.

Abstract

The rich tradition of Siberian science and higher education is little known outside Russian academic circles. Using institutional history, this article focuses on the founding and pre-war period of the Siberian Physical Technical Institute, the establishment of its research focus and its first difficult steps to become a leading centre of R & D in Siberia. Based on archival materials, the article describes how local and national physicists justified the institute's creation by demonstrating ties with industry and building on the presence of a cohort of locally trained physicists, whose numbers were augmented by Leningrad specialists. The strength of local cadres enabled the institute to navigate civil war and cultural revolution successfully. Physicists were able to take advantage of ongoing industrialization campaigns to gain support to create the institute, although local disputes and economic problems slowed its further development. The article describes the circulation of scientific, political and philosophical knowledge between Moscow, Leningrad and the provinces, and the impact of Bolshevik rule and Stalinism on the Siberian physics enterprise.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Society for the History of Science 2017 

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