by Margaret Poultney
I am going to talk about the development of Science in Russia
during the 18th century and try to set it within the context of what
was happening in science in other parts of Europe at the time.
17th – 18th C Russia was an extremely
hierarchical society with a ruling elite and included serfs who were tied to
the land, their place of birth, and the type of work they could do – even the
children of some independent tradespeople tended to be classed as peasants and
excluded from higher education. The Greek Orthodox Church, although largely
separated from the traditional lead of the Greek Orthodox Church in
Constantinople, tended to consider any western ideas as heretical. Also Russia
as a whole was generally xenophobic and rooted in the traditional Russian ways
of doing things.
