Since the launching of the first Sputnik, people in the West have been eager for accurate reports on the state of development and rate of growth of the sciences in the Soviet Union. Propaganda belittling or magnifying Russian scientific accomplishments has obscured the truth to the layman, and technical reports are usually unavailable, or if they are, incomprehensible to him.
In July 1964, Survey, a British journal of Soviet and East European Studies, devoted an entire issues to a report on Soviet science. The State of Soviet Science contains all of the major articles that appeared in that issue, plus three additions.
In this study are lucid, nontechnical accounts of the major developments in astronomy, biology, cybernetics, chemistry, as well as in mathematics, medicine, psychology, and space research. Each contributor provides a background of the developments; the result is a panoramic view of scientific thinking in Russia from the early days of Lenin to the present time. Most of the articles were written from first-hand observations. Some contributors were visiting scientists; others, exchange students.. All are knowledgeable men in their fields, fully equipped to evaluate, to weigh and discern the major trends in Soviet scientific development and research.
The State of Soviet Science should interest those in the scientific community, those concerned with international affairs, and those curious about the Soviet Union in general.