Russian Progress in Science (1960)

Broadcasters. The world heard the electrifying news of the Soviet moonshot on September 14, 1959. This recent feat, the latest chapter in the story which started just two years ago, when the American public for the first time were shocked by the realization that the Soviet Union had the capability of placing a satellite in orbit around the Earth. It was this memorable day, October 4, 1957, that made the world pause and reflect upon the scientific accomplishment of the Soviet Union. It was also the day that sparked a widespread controversy over the Soviet Union's scientific potential.

In response to the popular demand for more information on Soviet progress in science. The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company last spring turned to Radio Moscow with a request to provide a first-hand account of Soviet accomplishments in the fields of science and education and their plans for the future. Radio Moscow complied with our request. Its English-speaking announcer supplied WBZ Radio with exclusive tape interviews with leading Soviet scientists. WBZ Radio in turn went to leading scientists in America for comments and impressions, as to where Soviet science stands in comparison with United States. The net result of this is the program you are about to hear. Its aim is to reveal some of the accomplishments of Soviet science, its failures as well as successes, a scorecard which should make us pause and think about the future. The future is today, for it is now that we are faced with a challenge of Soviet science, a challenge that must be met.

This is Moscow. You are listening to Soviet Science, a Radio Moscow feature prepared for the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company of Boston. Soviet Science presents a panorama of advances in many fields. We begin with the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. The Soviet Academy of Sciences has about 150 permanent members and twice as many alternate members. Working through some 200 institutes, laboratories, observatories, museums and committees with a total staff of approximately 16,000 men and women, the Academy handles thousands of research problems yearly. Last year, the number exceeded 5,000. The Academy has several branch departments in the Ural Mountains and other parts of the country.

It also supervises the work of the local academies of science situated in 13 Soviet republics. Though, a general meeting of the membership has the last say in determining Academy policy, the body that directs all current work is the Presiding Committee with a President elected for a period of five years. At present, this is Alexander Nesmeyanov, the chemist. And here's President Nesmeyanov outlining the goals of Soviet science during the next seven years. Professor Nesmeyanov is saying that the new seven-year plan is intended to elevate industry, culture and living standards to unprecedented heights. It will bring the country quite close to communism. The present level of Soviet science is such that it will be able to make a notable contribution to this goal.

Our scientists will focus efforts on the problems that determine or directly influence labor efficiency. Automation will be greatly developed both theoretically and practically. We expect to make substantial progress in controlling thermonuclear reactions. We also look forward to great advances in experimental biology, which for one must explain the chemical and physical essence of metabolism, heredity, and other vital phenomenon. And without a doubt, Professor Nesmeyanov adds, the coming seven years will see man reaching and studying the moon and the closer planets.