Richard Villems
The Estonian Academy of Sciences in time and space
The Estonian Academy of Sciences is celebrating a double jubilee in 2008 – the ninetieth anniversary of the Republic of Estonia as well as the passage of seven decades since the foundation of the Academy. The status and changing role of the Academy and its members in the society, as well as its relationship with the state and other influential institutions, have been recorded in several Acts and Statutes of the Academy that have regulated its operation within the period, providing us with veritable reflection of the era and its ideologies.

The Estonian Academy of Sciences was not founded concurrently with the Republic of Estonia, although its establishment was under discussion in 1919. A number of more urgent matters required attention, including the restoration of the higher education system jointly with the development of native language courses and textbooks.

In 1938, the world had recovered from a global economic crisis, people were inclined to believe in continued peace, and the economy of Estonia was prospering. The Estonian Academy of Sciences Act, issued by President-Regent's Decree of 28 January 1938, formulated the mission of the Academy in simple, clear-cut wording – enhancement of research in general with special attention on Estonian topics and giving priority given to issues of everyday necessities. The structure of the Academy was fairly heterogeneous; several institutions and organisations were brought under its patronage, but the task of founding new research institutions could not be accomplished at the time.

The Academy was closed in 1940 under the pretext of "urgent governmental necessity" by an act issued in the form of a decree. Regulation by the Soviet of the People's Commissaries and the Central Committee of the Estonian Communist (Bolshevik) Party of 1945 included an intriguing clause about "re-establishing" the Academy. Specification of the principal obligations of the Academy in the Statute of 1946 was in essence quite similar to the first statute. The only ideological allusion was the imperative of contributing to "the formation of a classless society in the Estonian SSR".

The responsibilities of the Academy in the following version of the Statute, issued in 1960, were focused on the enhancement of research in the Soviet Union and strengthening of world peace. The versions of 1964 and 1969 did not incur essential changes. General Provisions of the 1985 version were in fact devoid of ideology.

The original name of the Academy was restored in 1989, when Decision No. 2 of the Academy of Sciences of the ESSR included a clause "to approve the Statute of the Estonian Academy of Sciences". The currently effective Statute entered into force in 1997.

The relationship with the state is contained in legal provisions – in the beginning the Academy was affiliated to the Ministry of Education. From 1946 to 1997 it was subordinated to the ESSR Council of Ministers, although from 1964-1985 the leading role of the USSR Academy of Sciences was strongly influential. Since 1997 the Academy is a legal entity in public law whose activity is regulated by General Part of the Civil Code Act.

Among the duties attributed to members of the Academy, priority has invariably been given to "personal research work" throughout the period. Additionally, being a leader or co-ordinator in a research field and related activities were emphasized in 1960. According to the currently effective Act academicians are inter alia provided to "introduce and present to the public or to state authorities their opinions on issues relating to research and society".

The Academy has initiated a lengthy process for the adoption of a new version of the Estonian Academy of Sciences Act in order to gain statutory authorization for launching and leading advanced studies in subject areas of critical importance. The existing legislation has proven to be constricting for the intended activities of the Academy.


Jüri Engelbrecht
Academies through time and space
The essay reflects the role and significance of science academies from Akademos in ancient Greece to the contemporary world. Akademos was not the only important ancient institution – Lykeion in Greece, Mouseion in Alexandria, Gelati in Georgia, and others also played a role in the development of scholarship and research at the time. The next significant era in Europe started in the seventeenth century through the founding of several academies like Lincei in Rome in 1603, Académie Française in 1635, Leopoldina in 1652 in Germany, etc. Academies not only became important knowledge centres but also had a remarkable role in dissemination of knowledge. The proceedings of academies started as unique scientific journals and have kept that place through changes in society including the introduction of the electronic press.

Academies are the top scientific and scholarly institutions of a country. Similarly to alliances of countries, there are many academic societies uniting academies from various countries. International Science Council (ICSU) unites academies and scientific unions, while InterAcademy Panel (IAP) and InterAcademy Council (IAC) unite academies throughout the world. The work and analyses of these organisations are targeted towards helping the society at large to understand the possibilities and threats in our dynamic world and envisaging scenarios for solving problems. A short list of publications by the IAC explicitly shows the ideas: Inventing the better future (2004), Women in Science (2006), Lightning the way. Toward a sustainable energy future (2007).

In Europe, academies are linked with others through the Federation of European National Academies of Sciences and Humanities. The acronym of this Federation – ALLEA stands for "All European Academies". ALLEA unites 53 academies from 40 countries. In some sense, ALLEA represents the "ideal Europe", uniting countries from the west and the east, from the north and the south.

ALLEA is international and interdisciplinary, aiming to achieve unity in diversity through respect for individuality and variety of its members, for the balance between sciences, social sciences and humanities, and for the wealth of cultures and languages in Europe. In this way, ALLEA unites and strengthens the voice of academies in promoting excellence in science and scholarship, offering independent advice on scientific policy, addressing issues relating to ethics, research integrity, and the responsibility of science and scientists. Some recent ALLEA analyses have been: Challenges of the Future: Reflections of ALLEA on ERA (2007) and Reflections of ALLEA on the EC Green paper (2008), both of which were targeted at advising the EC on science policy. The Standing Committees of ALLEA deal with intellectual property rights and science ethics. ALLEA works closely with the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC), which consists of members of academies from the EU countries and deals with issues of science needed for political discussions and decisions. Examples include the problems of vaccines, infectious diseases, oil shale industry (on Estonian experience), genomics, and crop plant science in Europe.

Finally, the author analyzes briefly the role of academies in the contemporary world. Science must always be a few steps ahead of society because society is not always aware of possible future developments. In such a complicated process, trust between all the stakeholders is important. And scientists should follow the ideas of Thomas Mann who emphasized "verantwortungsvolle Ungebundenheit".


Konstantin Päts
"The foundation of our fame should be our cultural values." Speech from the opening ceremony of the Estonian Academy of Sciences on 22 October 1938
In his speech, the president of the Republic of Estonia Konstantin Päts emphasizes that Estonia is a small nation and is not able to acquire great power, accumulate great riches or rule over the lands and resources of the world, but should still enrich the world with its cultural achievements.


Ain Heinaru
The road to success for Estonian research
There is more than one way of assessing research results using modern databases of research. The meaning of some indicators (the impact factor of the journal, citations per article, comparison of citations by specialities, total number of citations, total number of articles, Hirsch index) are explained and the differences in the use of research indicators at the level of an individual researcher, a research institution and the whole country reaches the conclusion that for the assessment of an individual researcher a complex of different research indicators should be used.

A complex analysis of Estonian research indicators comparing the periods 1992-2002, 1995-2005 and 1998-2008 clearly reveals the remarkably rapid development of Estonian research. The conclusion is that decisions in research policy taken by Estonia at the state level have been correct. In the forthcoming years, Estonia can be expected to reach the average level of world research (at present 83% of the average). In order to keep that process going, it is necessary to increase the number of researchers, improve their financing and the infrastructure of research. This would enable us in the near future to be among the top dozen of countries in the world in the field of academic research. Compared to the rest of the world, we have achieved the best results in material science, molecular biology and genetics, chemistry, environment research and ecology, and biology and biochemistry. The development of social sciences, computer science and land sciences in Estonia is also more rapid than average.


Ain-Elmar Kaasik
A selection of opinions throughout the years
The first volume of the yearbook of the Estonian Academy of Sciences was published a short time before the Academy was closed down on 17 July 1940. From 1969-1988 the Academy, restored in 1946 by a decree of the then authorities as the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR, regularly published reports in Russian on the research and organizational activities of the Academy and its institutions. The 1989 report was more extensive than the previous ones; it was published in Estonian and Russian, and for the first time in English. From 1990-1995 the annals were published in Estonian under the titles Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia aastaaruanne (Annual Report of the Estonian Academy of Sciences), Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia teaduslikud publikatsioonid (Research Publications of the Estonian Academy of Sciences), and in English as Annual Report of the Estonian Academy of Sciences.

In 1996 a decision was taken to resume the regular publication of the Academy's yearbook (Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia Aastaraamat) as planned in 1940. The book compiled in the first months of 1997 includes an overview of the activities of the Academy in 1996, its membership, associated societies, etc. The yearbook was given the number II (29), where the number in brackets stands for the aforementioned annals. By the annual general meeting on 23 April 2008, issue XIII (40) came out, and shows that publication of the yearbook has now become regular. In parallel, the English-language Estonian Academy of Sciences Year Book has helped introduce Estonian research and related problems abroad. From issue II (29), as proposed by the then President of the Academy Jüri Engelbrecht, the yearbook has included the section "Members' opinions". There, in a relatively free form, Academy members have discussed various topical questions – primarily the relations between education, research and society. Nearly 250 articles have been published, some of them containing only a few lines, others as more substantial essays.

We present to the reader a selection of writings from that section of the yearbook. When choosing the texts, the compiler has preferred those that discuss problems of research policy which have received attention for a longer time and has attempted to cover the whole period the section has been published in the yearbooks. The Division of Astronomy and Physics is represented by Ene Ergma, Harald Keres, Mart Saarma, Boris Tamm (1930-2002); the Division of Informatics and Engineering by Rein Küttner, Enn Tõugu, Raimund-Johannes Ubar; the Division of Biology, Geology and Chemistry by Ain-Elmar Kaasik, Agu Laisk, Anto Raukas, Hans-Voldemar Trass; the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences by Raimund Hagelberg and Arvo Krikmann.


Ken Kalling, Erki Tammiksaar
Disintegration of the system of the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR: Years in search of an identity, 1987-1997
The years 1987-1997 were groundbreaking in the history of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. As a result of perestroika and ongoing disintegration of the Soviet Union, quests for sovereignty grew in Estonia and led to the restoration of independence. The restitution process also involved the Academy of Sciences. This was rather painful as it was founded in 1938 essentially as a so-called personal academy; following the Soviet model, however, it was turned into the main research institution in Estonia – figuratively speaking a ministry of research. The Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR had numerous affiliated institutions (institutes, etc.). The Academy system existed separately from the Soviet higher education system. The Soviet Academy followed the orders of directive organs in developing fundamental research, as well as applied studies both locally and for the whole of Soviet Union. In addition, the Academy had obligations in popularization of science, nature conservation, etc.

The crisis that hit the USSR in the 1980s meant that the Academy had to pay more attention to strengthening its position in Estonia. As it became complicated to obtain financial support, the Academy was not able to continue extensive development. The need to become self-suffient became acute. Gradual decrease, and finally the termination of, state support from the USSR and the parallel development of the system of grant-based financing of research, brought about the need to formulate more clearly than before the contribution of the Academy to science in Estonia and the world. In 1991-1992, for the first time, the state of research in Estonia was assessed internationally.

The emerging civil society reminded the Academy and its members of their obligations to society as opinion leaders. The themes where the Academy or its members actively participated in discussions included environmental issues, the programme of financially independent Estonia, the position of the Estonian language, topical questions of Estonian history. It was vital for the Academy to participate in discussions that dealt with the organization of research in the newly independent country.

It became difficult for the Academy to establish itself when the principles of organization of research were changing. The cumbersome system of the Academy was considered a relic of Soviet times; as an alternative, the universities attempted to restore their position in research, sometimes to the detriment of the Academy. In competition the Academy turned out to be inferior, and in the first half of the 1990s the Soviet-like system of research institutions came to an end. These changes have been fixed in the Statutes of the Academy from 1989 and 1995. These, along with the Research Organization Act of 1994 and its amendments from 1996 by which the institutions of the Academy were subordinated to ministries, mark the end of the Academy system as it existed in the Estonian SSR and the rebirth of the personal academy. The Academy of Sciences Act of 1997 already shows the end of decline; by this Act the Academy secured its autonomy as a legal entity in public law.


Peeter Saari
On the anatomy and taxonomy of pseudoscience
The problem what pseudoscience is and how to distinguish it from genuine or bona fide science is not merely academic or philosophical but also very practical and much broader and more serious than the question whether to believe or not in horoscopes in entertainment media.

Last time the journal Akadeemia discussed the demarcation line between science and pseudoscience in 1991, we published the translation of an article by the Hungarian philosopher of science Imre Lakatos. The current article is not aimed at epistemological depth or providing an overview of respective paradigms in philosophy of science but offers a popular treatment with explanations and examples from the Estonian cultural space.

Pseudoscience is a body of knowledge, methodology, belief, or practice that (i) is claimed to be scientific or made to appear scientific, but does not adhere to the scientific method; (ii) lacks supporting evidence or plausibility or (iii) otherwise lacks scientific status.

The article characterizes the following subcategories of pseudoscience: protoscience, junk science, pathological science, amateur science, fringe science or alternative science, and parody pseudoscience. The article provides examples to explain the criteria for differentiating between science and pseudoscience: falsifiability (according to Karl Popper), reproducibility, statistical significance, and well-articulated limitations. Characteristic features of pseudoscience are specified, like misuse of specialist terms and jargon, offering easy solutions to difficult problems, appealing to authorities.

The author presents an original speculation on how the success in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) can do disservice to the sustainability of science-based society that junk science would never be able to do.

The human emotional level of reasoning is disclosed, explaining why belief in pseudoscience does not decrease with general growth of education. This is aptly characterized by the cynical sentence from the 1970s by Gustav Naan, an Estonian philosopher from the times when Estonia was part of the Soviet Union, "People do not need truth; but rather they need consolation."

The article ends with a quotation from the American naturalist Edwin Teale, "It is morally as bad not to care whether a thing is true or not, so long as it makes you feel good, as it is not to care how you got your money as long as you have got it."


Hillar Aben
On Thomas Johann Seebeck's sensational discovery in optics
Estonian-German physicist Thomas Johann Seebeck has gone down in history of science primarily as the discoverer of the thermoelectric phenomenon. He published his first paper in this field in 1822. It is not so well known, however, that from 1802-1818 Seebeck's main research area was optics. In 1813 he discovered the photo elasticity effect of glass and published the results of his study in 1813 and 1814 – before the British physicist Brewster, who is often credited with the discovery of the phenomenon. Seebeck's achievements in optics were considered so weighty that in 1818 he was elected Member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

The article describes briefly Seebeck's discovery, the rivalry between Seebeck and Brewster, and Goethe's role in promoting Seebeck's discovery.


Jaan Undusk
Estonia, exile and Estonia Abroad: A little history of mentalities
After 1944, a situation developed where pockets of Estonian culture formed everywhere across the globe. However, never before had there been such a complete isolation between the culture of geographical Estonia and Estonian culture elsewhere in the world. Interpretation of the unity and separateness of Estonian culture became an acute problem.

The official Soviet ideology tried to contrast Estonian culture in Estonia with Estonian culture in the West on the Leninist principle, according to which national culture included two hostile cultures – bourgeois (or the so-called emigrant Estonian culture in the West) and democratic.

In the West, one of the options was the deliberate attitude of an exile – while living abroad, one should remain an Estonian in exile, i.e. preserve one's original culture in the foreign environment and continue political resistance to the occupation regime in the homeland. The precondition for Estonian culture was the independent nation state, and the cultural activities in exile had to be directed at its restoration as conditio sine qua non. In its extreme form, this attitude meant the interpretation of the Leninist slogan of two cultures in opposite colours – Estonian culture existed only in exile and those acting in occupied Estonia were merely Estonian-speaking servants of communist ideology.

In the mid-1960s, the ideology of Estonia Abroad, which had had its beginnings as early as the 1920s, gained popularity. This was caused by two circumstances: firstly, after the end of Stalinist terror, the weightier part of Estonian culture proved to reside in geographical Estonia again, and secondly, younger generations of Estonians in the West did not feel like political refugees any more. In addition, there were some minor scandals, like the visit of Merited Writer of the Estonian SSR Rudolf Sirge to Toronto in 1964, which split the Estonian community there.

The ideology of Estonia Abroad did not inevitably demand the restoration of the nation state; it foregrounded the nation's cultural unity regardless of one's geographical residence. Its proponents launched the programme of Global Estonia, and attempted to bring it to broad circles of young Estonians in the West. Among the carriers of this ideology from 1967 on were the so-called Forest Universities in Canada, Australia and Sweden. The Forest Universities promoted an alternative attitude that tightened contacts with Estonians in occupied Estonia and finally led to joint activities with them.

One of the essential background aspects was "political linguistics". Other countries did not recognize the Estonian exile government, although they recognized the remaining diplomatic missions of Estonia. The most influential politician was Ernst Jaakson, Consul General of Estonia in charge of Legation in the United States, who did not consider himself an exile politician but a diplomat of the de jure Republic of Estonia. As such, he could – paradoxically – accept neither the ideology of Estonia in exile nor the ideology of Estonia Abroad but only had to emphasize the antagonism between Estonian and (Estonian-language) Soviet culture. Therefore, despite his essential political services, he could not promote cultural contacts between Estonians.


Tarmo Soomere
Interaction of solitons – a tender embrace or a fierce fight?
The concept of solitons, a specific subclass of spatially or temporally localised, nonlinear solitary waves with spectacular stability properties, reflects one of the fundamental developments in the nonlinear description of the world in the twentieth century. Although the combination of simultaneously being a localised structure propagating while mostly keeping its shape as waves do, and surviving for a long time in realistic nonlinear conditions is a fascinating property in itself, another key quality defines whether a particular entity is a soliton. The distinction is based on the way in which two or more of these objects interact with each other.

The fundamental property of a soliton is that it retains its identity in nonlinear interactions. In low-dimensional systems, a soliton's amplitude, shape, and velocity are exactly restored after each interaction, whereas in more complex systems this request embraces all dynamically significant qualities. Only changes of certain dynamically less significant properties such as the exact location (phase) of the solitons are common in elastic interactions. In other words, a structure is a soliton if, and only if, its interactions are fully elastic.

The most instructive quality of soliton interactions is the universality of many of their features that exists in spite of the extremely diverse physical origins of the counterparts. The essay aims at the presentation of the basic conceptual ideas involving soliton interactions – probably the most fascinating feature of soliton phenomena. A discussion of several particular cases of such interactions and an overview of observations of the relevant phenomena in natural conditions are mostly limited to effects occurring in the elastic interactions of one-dimensional and line solitons, in which the solitons behave very much like ideal mechanical bodies and which serve as the kernel of the classical concept of solitons and their interactions. Some spectacular features of nearly elastic interactions in higher dimensions are interpreted in terms of generalisations of classical elastic interactions. Finally, a selection of practical applications of specific features of soliton interactions is discussed from the viewpoint of line solitons.

Published 2008-10-07