House of Scientists

in the USSR, a cultural and educational institution; an organization of the scientific community. The first house of scientists was opened in 1921 in Petrograd under the Central Commission for Improving the Life of Scientists, which was organized on instructions from V. I. Lenin with the active assistance of M. Gorky. A house of scientists opened in Moscow in 1922. By the early 1970’s there were also houses of scientists in Novosibirsk, Kiev, Odessa, Tashkent, Saratov, Novocherkassk, L’vov, Kirovabad, Krasnodar, Gorky, Kharkov, and Tomsk, as well as a number of science centers in the Moscow area. The Moscow and Leningrad houses of scientists are under the authority of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR; others are under the central committee of the trade union of workers in education, institutions of higher learning, and scientific institutions.

The main tasks of the houses of scientists are the organization of recreation for scientists and of the exchange of information on the latest achievements of science and technology and on events in sociopolitical and cultural life and the popularization of scientific achievements. Houses of scientists organize vacations for scientists at tourist centers and sports sections and conduct excursions and other health-oriented undertakings. Amateur performing groups and science sections work in houses of scientists, and lectures and reports on current topics, literary and musical evening programs, combined lecture-concerts, screenings of films, meetings with government and public figures, writers, and production innovators are arranged; the houses of scientists organize lectures by scientists at industrial and agricultural enterprises.