External sessions of the USSR Academy of Sciences’ section of Earth sciences, held in the USSR regions in 1964–1968

On the 10th of April, 1961, the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences passed a resolution aimed to improve effectiveness of research at the Academy’s institutions and to identify promising research areas. In accordance with this resolution, the Academy’s structure changed with 15 new sections added. The new structure of the Academy was reflected in its new charter approved in July 1963. Academician A. P. Vinogradov became the Academic Secretary of one of the Academy’s sections named the Section of Earth Sciences. In the new conditions, the Academic Secretary’s responsibility increased and the scope of his duties widened significantly, which demanded the implementation of new organizational forms of work such as the external (regionally held) sessions convened in various regions of the USSR since 1964. This article is devoted to the analysis of the history of these sessions. There were four external sessions held in the Soviet Central Asia and Kazakhstan (1964), in the Russian Far East (1965), in the Caucasus (1966), and in the Urals (1968). The objectives of these sessions were regionally convened discussions of current problems in the development of modern science, coordination of measures aimed to address these problems within the framework of the section, proving help to regional scientific institutions with the organization of studies including those involving the use of new research methods, and establishing close contacts between the scientists from different regions and the academies of sciences of different USSR republics.