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Dear Colleagues,

We have been surprized to hear that the Russian Government is preparing to destroy the Russian Academy of Science.

It might be possible for the Government to damage the Academy but it will take decades even for the Government to rebuild it once it is badly damaged, which is what we are so much afraid of.

Nowadays people talk about quick applications and tend to measure universities and research institutions by the results obtained within a short period like a few years or by simple numerical measures. However what really counts in science is peer review by experts and those numerical measures make sense only as supporting data. For instance mathematics is often underappreciated because it is difficult to see its effect in the final applications, but its role is quite essential and it is working at the back. This is especially the reason why it is difficult to recover once the research support scheme is lost. Currently and prospectively leading countries understand the mechanism and try to promote mathematics and science. We had believed that Russia had been one of them.

Russia has gained the international respect for generations of great scientific talents. Naturally the great technological excellence of Russia is based on the scientific heritage. This long tradition has been made possible because the academy of Science has its own system to foster new generations of leading scientists together with the related science community.

This complex system will be completely lost once the Academy is badly damaged. This is why we are worried if the great system of the Russian Academy of Science is damaged.

We sincerely hope that the Russian Government be careful not to damage the Academy and its fostering system.

Heisuke Hironaka
Fields Medal
Member Japan Academy
Membre de l'Academie des sciences (France)
Foreign Member RAS,
American Academy of Arts and Sciences,